“The full registration of firearms is a wasteful and dangerous exercise and ACT will repeal it,” says ACT’s Firearms spokesperson Nicole McKee.
“This is not a good use of taxpayer money. Overseas experience has shown that full registration of firearms doesn’t work. The cost of Canada’s firearms register blew out to over $2 billion, achieved only limited participation from firearms owners, and was then dumped in 2011. This one is currently budgeted at $208 million, who knows what the final cost will be.
“This is the result of the Arms Legislation Act that was rushed through Parliament in June 2020 by Labour and NZ First. ACT was the only party in Parliament to stand up for firearms owners and vote against the Bill then, and we will continue to stand up for firearms owners now.
“The Police Minister says "This is a good way to find out where the guns are." The police already know where the licensed owners' guns are. They've been in our homes, they've interviewed our families, and they've checked and approved our security. They know exactly where we are, who we are, and who we live with.
“The register can only work if everyone complies, including gang members and criminals. There is no chance of this happening, Police answered an OIA admitting that 46 per cent of seized firearms had no serial number recorded at all.
“Written Parliamentary Questions also show that 95 per cent of firearm charges are laid against people who are not licensed.
“Gun crime in New Zealand is out of control, but creating a register will do nothing to fix this and once again shows the Government’s focus is on law-abiding firearms owners rather than gangs.
“The Government must abandon its attempt to register every firearm in the country. Centralising this information within an agency which has shown time and again that it cannot be trusted to manage it, cannot be allowed to proceed.
“Registration will not keep our communities safer. It's a money pit that Labour are hell-bent on pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into."