Guns are inanimate but the Government seems determined to personify them as evil as more & more pointless restrictions have been passed into law. That is the view of Neville Dodd, president of Sporting Shooters, on the new law that requires museum curators to hold a firearms dealer’s license if there are any firearms in their museum’s collection. “This is just another ridiculous example of wrapping pointless red tape around the knee jerk reaction after the 2019 massacre.”

He says the museums in New Zealand have adequate security to ensure any firearms held by them are secure and this latest law is only going to discourage museums from fulfilling their function of displaying our some of our significant history. Museums are already required to have a standard firearms licensee if they hold firearms in their collection. To now require that they hold an annual firearms dealers licence just adds pointless complexity and cost for no purpose as museums obviously are not in the business of buying, selling, hiring or manufacturing firearms and are therefore not dealers.

“Firearms are a significant part of New Zealand’s world history and inhibiting the preservation of that history with pointless and complex law changes will lead to a significant part of that history being lost to future generations.” He says, in his view, legally licensed gun owners are already drowning in convoluted legislation and security rules that restrict transportation of guns and the use of them.

“I recognise Police have a problem with illegal guns in criminal hands and finding and seizing those guns, but dumping pointless restrictions onto the law-abiding people is not going to stop the public shootings.”

This is particularly the case as “We know that illicit firearms are flowing freely through our ports, and now the latest is that the criminal element are making their own guns by using 3D printers, so what we are saying is Government and Police should close those gaps and stop wasting time and taxpayers’ funds persecuting the law-abiding sportsmen and women.”

“Seriously, passing complicated (some would say unintelligible) laws that make people such as Museum Curators have to apply for a firearms dealer’s license is only going to lead to people getting more and more frustrated. There are strong rumblings of discontent about the laws and red tape, surely the Government should listen; not too will cost them at the next election.”

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