We will launch a campaign in the new year with a short submission that you can sign your name to, and a submission guide for the more enthusiastic. Keep your eyes out for communications in the new year. In the mean time, enjoy your holidays.

The changes that Minister McKee is proposing to the Arms Act are mostly minor tinkering. We support improving the workability of the legislation and many of the changes seem sensible. We look forward to seeing the details in the draft Bill.”

www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Luckily it looks like she lost the registry fight. There probably also need to be some limits on the number of firearms that can be owned by one person...

We have been using the Tautoko model for our submissions. We use an online form to collect names and emails of those who support our summary submission. Put overall number of submitters in main submission and share names confidentially with the Clerk. The SC staff much prefer this approach!

A large and broad-based majority of New Zealanders support a gun registry. 82% of voters believe the firearms registry should be kept. Almost two-thirds of voters believe that a political party supporting the registry has stronger law and order policies.

Nicole McKee set the terms of reference for the independent review of the registry. Given her level of control of the review, it is ridiculous that she is now complaining about the findings. This is just sour grapes because it did not produce the recommendations that she wanted.

A criminal gun diverter, caught on surveillance tape, said he was ‘just waiting for the [2023] election bro’ as he hoped the gun registry would be scrapped. National and NZ First have now dashed his, and many other criminals’, hopes.

More than half of gun owners support the registry. The main groups opposed to it are Nicole McKee’s old lobby group, the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, and criminals who want to easily buy guns.

Diversion by licensed owners has been a major source of guns found at crime scenes. Gun registries also provide greater safety for police officers, giving them better information about the risks they might face and allowing them to remove all firearms when they cancel licences.

“I didn’t think that was fair, especially to the Christchurch Muslim community, ... to have anxiety over thinking that I might [expand access to MSSAs]. If I do end up putting it through ... can I mitigate those risks and alleviate some of the fears from the community? And if I can’t, then I won’t.”

“One person alone cannot dictate for a whole country exactly how something should work, and not take on everybody else’s thoughts, concerns, advice. The moment I do that, I become arrogant. So I don’t want to do that ... It’s not about me. It’s about having good firearms laws for everyone.”

"Police and Justice Ministry officials have raised concerns about the changes, fearing they will have the opposite effect to the minister’s stated intent to improve public safety."