If the Police Association is successful in its constant agitation for Police to carry firearms at all times, it will trigger an arms race and greater violence with criminals that will also result in harm to ordinary citizens, says the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO).

The Police Association’s latest effort in its long-running media campaign to arm Police was a member survey last week which it used to claim most members (73%) wanted to be armed.

COLFO Spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said today that the nation’s firearm owners were concerned that violence and arms use would escalate if Police were armed with the express intention of deploying them under pressure against citizens.

“The Police Association’s objective will, according to international experience, not reduce Police deaths but will increase the number of innocent citizens injured or killed than if Police remained unarmed[1].

“Arming Police is likely to change the manner of Police interaction with the community[2], and to change the criminal attitude to encounters with Police.

“International evidence supports that the amount of violence increases with the escalation of Police weapons, making everyone, Police included, less safe. This significantly impacts marginalised communities and further places the growing number of New Zealanders who suffer from mental health challenges in danger.”

“More criminals will carry firearms to even the playing field.”

Devereux-Mack said the arming of each Police officer safely would be almost impossible because of the high standard necessary for peacetime use of weapons in, and on the public.

“Rules covering our members to use firearms for hunting and sports are onerous, but standards for the use of firearms against citizens require an order of capability beyond most people.

“It is unlikely that every Police officer could manage the handling requirements, nor could Police afford to give officers the amount of range time and anti-bias training they would need to be effective under the extreme pressure of deploying their weapons in the field.”

“The result is a more dangerous environment for everyone. In this instance we support the stance taken by Minister Poto Williams, and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster against the general arming of our police. We advocate that the Police focus its efforts on disarming criminals rather than starting an arms race where everyone loses,” Devereux-Mack said.

[1]Examples: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6080222/ & https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/vio.2019.0020

[2] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ex-cop-militarization-of-local-police-leads-to-more-law-enforcement-violence-against-citizens-2020-06-02

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