Firearms Safety Council chairman, and former police national arms control officer

Hastily implemented changes to legislation have the potential to work against the safe use and control of firearms. In New Zealand we have an excellent previous example that is very relevant to Friday’s tragic events.

After the Aramoana shootings in 1992, the government acted quickly to address the issue of semiautomatic firearms. Among much political rhetoric, the features that were thought to constitute a military-style firearm entered into law as what we now know as a military-style semi-automatic, known commonly as an MSSA.

Ever since, this legal construct has provided difficulties for both law enforcement and users.

While those wishing to use MSSAs have to apply for an endorsement on their firearms licence, undergo a higher level of police vetting and have in place a higher level of security, few controls – other than those regarding importation – were placed on the constituent parts that make a semi-automatic firearm an MSSA.

Judge Thorp, in his 1997 Review of Firearms Control in New Zealand, considered that this created a ‘‘potential for evasion of the law’’. An opportunity that Friday’s offender took advantage of – he fitted large-capacity magazines to his sporting firearms, placing himself outside the law.

Little attention has been paid to the ability to obtain largecapacity magazines without having to demonstrate that one could lawfully possess a MSSA.

Former chief justice Dame Sian Elias said ‘‘legislation should be based on solid facts, not pious hopes’’. This sounds a warning to legislators. New Zealand already has an enviable record in terms of numbers of deaths in which firearms were the cause.

The possession of firearms in this country is controlled by a licensing regime that has possibly the world’s most intrusive vetting. The firearms community would be concerned at any move to change this process.

Legislators would do well to begin with a close review of the firearms licensing process as it was applied to Friday’s offender. It is, after all, the mechanism by which he gained lawful access to firearms.

Finally, close consultation with firearms users will be essential if we are not to repeat the difficulties of the hastily made changes to the Arms Act in 1992. It is within this community that the expertise resides. They, too, are reeling from Friday’s events and looking for answers.