June 16, 2021
After what has been described as a knee jerk reaction to the March 2019 massacre, it is now clear New Zealand’s legal
gun owners were not and are not the problem. It is social media that the authorities should be focused on.
That is according to the president of Sporting Shooters, Neville Dodd. He says the blame has been placed at the feet of
those who llawfully own guns for perfectly legitimate reasons.
“The Christchurch Counter Terrorism Hui has just concluded that the risk of terrorism attacks in New Zealand has nothing
to do with local law-abiding people, it is all about extremists who are inspired by, or influenced by, social media.
”In the meantime, those who own guns for recreational purposes, and to put meat on their family tables have had to cope
with all the consequences of the panic reaction by a Government who in their desperate haste to find a whipping horse
punished the wrong people.”
He says nobody seems prepared to admit that the convicted perpetrator was wrongly issued with a license to own a firearm
by police, instead Parliament and the media turned on law-abiding New Zealanders who simply enjoy their sport and are no
threat to anyone.
“We have university students feeding themselves and their flat mates by shooting pest animals, Commonwealth and even
Olympic sports people using guns for their competitions and many other harmless sporting uses of firearms. Police now
need to shift their focus to social media which feeds the problem and let lawful Kiwi firearms owners get on with the
life we love.”
He says he hopes the recent firearms law changes will be reversed by a future Government as the hastily amended
legislation as it currently stands is voluminous, irrational, convoluted and impossible for the average law-abiding
firearms owner to understand.