More guns don’t make us safer

The news from Christchurch last week was grim – another shootout between police and a civilian, this time in the quiet suburb of Richmond in the early evening. The alleged shooter shot at police, and was then shot twice in the lower body and is now in custody. Heallegedly fired shots at two police cars in two separate incidents a few days earlier. Police believe another man was in the car earlier in the evening and, until they found him, the decision was made to arm all frontline Canterbury police.

By the order of district commander Superintendent John Price, police were carrying Glock pistols on their belts rather than in their vehicles. Price said the order was reviewed daily.

New Zealand’s 12 district police commanders have the authority to arm all of their frontline officers when they decide it’s necessary.

In the Southern district, general arming has been used on ‘‘rare occasions’’ and was never done lightly, according to Superintendent Paul Basham. ‘‘It’s not that this signals a general arming of the police,’’ he said. ‘‘We’d use it if we needed to.’’

General arming of police was an operational matter, said Police Minister Stuart Nash. Routine arming was not on the horizon.

These assurances are not reassuring. The worry is that a permanently armed police force may be evolving without the approval of Parliament and the people.

We don’t know how often every frontline police officer carries a gun, largely because these orders are not usually announced and because police headquarters does not keep records of this sort. Why not?

The Police Association has lobbied for years for better armed officers. Last week, president Chris Cahill said officers were finding firearms in the hands of criminals on a daily basis. There were weekly reports of offenders confronting officers with guns, he said.

With respect to police and the often dangerous jobs they perform, anecdotes from the thin blue line should not drive change this profound.

According to statistics made public by police headquarters, firearms were presented at police 17 times in 2017.

In four of those incidents, weapons were fired. And of those 17 situations, 14 resulted in prosecutions.

The circumstances of firearm incidents were apparently not well understood, because a national project had begun to gather better data on them. That’s good. If not already, the project should also gather better data on when police are presenting their guns at people, as well as how often the entire frontline constabulary is armed.

It has been shown many times and in many countries that the more guns available to a society, the more gun violence occurs. This includes police guns.

Outside of immediate emergencies, the arming of police is not an operational matter.

It is a matter for Parliament, the people and the police after a mature and careful consideration of the pros and cons.

New Zealanders are mostly proud that police are not armed most of the time. Their jobs are dangerous. But change should not be allowed through the back door.

It has been shown many times and in many countries that the more guns available to a society, the more gun violence occurs. This includes police guns.