“Gun Control NZ is horrified by the hypocrisy of the ACT party claiming to support the safety of New Zealanders while wanting to destroy the new firearms registry. Registering guns makes it much harder for criminals to access guns and reduces firearms-related violence.” says Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek.

“A gun registry will help Police prevent and solve crimes, and make police officers safer. The recent gang-related gun violence in Auckland was fuelled by guns bought by licensed firearms owners. The licensed firearms owners did it because they thought they would never be caught. A register will stop these strawman purchases. This is why we support the introduction of the registry next month.” says co-founder Nik Green.

“David Seymour’s parroting of NRA talking points shows the gun lobby’s success in a reverse take-over of the ACT party. There is strong evidence from around the world about the effectiveness of gun registers. This is why the overwhelming majority (70%) of Kiwis support our stronger gun laws. Instead, David Seymour inhabits the gun lobby’s fact-free echo chamber.” says Philippa Yasbek

The gun lobby’s bitter opposition to meaningful regulation of semi-automatic firearms contributed to the death of 51 innocent people. The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attack stated that “the risk that a terrorist could take advantage of [loose controls on semi-automatic firearms] was identified as long ago as 2011. But there was no significant tightening of the regime largely because of strong opposition from the firearms community.” Nik Green asks: “Given their record, why would we trust the gun lobby on registration?”

Background information supporting this press release

Gun Control NZ commissioned a literature review on the value of firearms registers. This was undertaken by Jeff Loan (now a principal at Sapere). The literature review is available here: https://www.guncontrol.nz/s/GCNZ-Value-of-Firearm-Registration.pdf

Highlights of the literature review can also be found in this op-ed by Philippa Yasbek and Jeff Loan: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/117347138/why-a-gun-register-will-make-us-safer

“the recent gang-related gun violence..,” Marty Sharpe “ 21 rifles bought in Napier were destined for Auckland during spike in gang gun crime” 12 May 2023. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300877104/21-rifles-bought-in-napier-were-destined-for-auckland-during-spike-in-gang-gun-crime

“the overwhelming majority (70%) of Kiwis…” UMR survey “Gun Laws and changes - September 2019” https://www.guncontrol.nz/media/most-new-zealanders-back-stronger-gun-laws

“the risk that a terrorist…” from paragraph 47 of Ko tō tātou kāinga tēnei Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019

https://christchurchattack.royalcommission.nz/the-report/executive-summary-2/executive-summary/

© Scoop Media