Airgun users to be licenced

I just love idiots like this. Wake up people, "things" are not the problem. How these "things" are used is the problem. I dare anyone to name anything that is completely safe. Don't bother trying, because it can't be done. Any solid object, regardless of it's intended design, and be used improperly and can cause harm. Banning things doesn't do anything but make people (those who ban it) feel better about themselves. It protects no one. Here a question for you. Now; think carefully and be honest. If you are attacked and there is no LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) around what will you to help yourself? Scream? Lets say you do that, and a nearby LEO you can't see hears you. Lets say he gets to you quick, lets say 30 seconds. That's pretty quick yes? O.K. Have a friend you trust using something safe like a piece of foam pipe insulation hit you repeatedly for 30 seconds. If this attack had been real do you think you would have survived? If so, explain how, and even if your an expert in the martial arts, if you are surprised, you can still loose your life. Sometimes bare fists are just not enough. I happen to own one of these Dragon Slayer air rifles. I don't think you need to be concerned about them being a popular choice for criminals. There expensive (mine cost me 650.00 USD) They need to be charged to 3000 psi (I bought a 250.00 USD pump for that), they are only single shot, and finally, now they have been discontinued. If you really want to help stop crime, give people a change to help themselves instead of wasting time on useless bans that do nothing but endanger the average law abiding citizen. Thanks for reading my rant.

Judith collins is out of line stating that air rifles are designed to kill...firearms are designed to kill. The average air rifle these days produces about 12 - 20ftlbs of kinetic energy at the muzzle. a .22 cal rimfire produces approx 140 ft/lbs. The average air rifle pellet weighs 7.9 - 14.2 grains. A .22 cal rimfire weighs 40 grains. The .22 cal rimfire is a suitable cartridge for rabbits and possums and is the lowest powered firearm caliber commonly available. Air rifles can kill a rabbit at 20-30 yards with a very accurate and precisely placed shot to a small kill zone on the head of a rabbit, but they are not designed to kill, they are designed to teach learners basic gun safety,target practise and are used for competition. It isn't legal to hunt medium to large game with an air rifle for good reason. A .308 cal hunting rifle suitable for hunting produces approx 3000 ft/ lbs kinetic energy at the muzzle and will still have 1000ft/lbs - 1300 ft/lbs at 500 metres... no air rifle can shoot 500 metres. At 100 metres an air rifle will have about 6 -10ft/lbs energy. So a Quote "high powered air rifle" is approx 7 times less powerful than a .22 and is 150 times less powerful than a .308 cal. Larger Magnum powered firearms will easily exceed this and have a useable range of 1500 mtrs and are cheaper and more commonly available than PCP air rifles.
The dragon slayer is not a common air rifle and is hard to obtain. yes you can buy one for $1700 but you will also need a scuba tank - $400 and a fill probe $140.. the .50 cal pellets are very hard to obtain. Also filling the scuba tank is pricey. It wouldn't be convenient for a criminal to lug all this gear around as his weapon of choice when he could just buy a .22 cal rimfire for $100 bucks and have more accuracy and range with a fraction of the weight and operating costs. note that criminals are also not licensed and do not buy their guns over the counter. The police and media are grooming public opinion so that they can unfairly target a minority group of law abiding citizens. regulation = power and control and less rights for us.

I want nothing to do with any guns out there, guns are not the answer..Law must be Law without firearms..

Come on wake up you people?would our SAS troops use these guns?Would you go pig hunting with one?would you go deer stalking with one,would you go shooting from a helicopter with one?I dont say that they wont kill,but how many crazy idiots out there that would own one?This is another thing that is telling the people of New Zealand that the National party is doing something even if it is a lot of hog wash.Just like the liquor laws is a fast why did they not go the full distance with it,May lose too many votes next year.And if they mean anything why dont they instigate it now,why wait till next year,just too make it an election bribe with a few trimmings here and there so it will look more pretty among the blue ribbons.

Google, 50cal Dragon slayer. you too can buy this gun over the counter without a gun license for $1700 NZ. the 22cal are shown on this site also.

@V

David Gray. The ones that end up in jail lose there License.

Gun control law in the US is a faliure, it only increases gun violence. Those states and communities with the lowest violent crime, and generally lower crime rates over all, have the least restrictions on gun ownership. We have the right to defend ourselves and our property, wake up NZ. Good citizens aren't cowboys, and criminals don't care.

In the small Otago town i was raised in ,two of my school mates died in motorcycle accidents ,and another three died in car accidents, Nobody died from firearms and yet all our families possessed guns,In reality this is just more pandering politics,

Just another revenue-grabbing beaurocrat-increasing farce that will tax the law-abiding for no gain in crime deterrence. Easy way to be seen to be doing something and satisfying rabid anti-firearms noddies and compulsive knee-jerking 6 o'clock news watchers.
Umm, in other words, I agree with V.
What a cardboard cut-out crime minister we have, not that we'd get anything different from any other party.

These air rifles are for enhanced pest control. They are not assault rifles nor are they similar in power or lethality.
Sgt Don Wilkinson died because he wasnt armed. This is an issue being used to railroad the public into believing that fire arms licencing should be mandatory.

The rifle in question is NOT high powered. Air rifles are now being compared to real firearms. So lets compare them. Is a .22 rabbit hunting rifle 'high powered'? Not by anyones wildest dreams. They bullets they shoot travel at 1900 feet per second and hits with 324 ft·lbf (energy). Now the airgun the police minister is saying is 'High powered' shoots at only 900 feet per second with a piddley pellet producing a mere 33 ft-lbf.
SO - less than half the speed of a low powered 'real' rifle and 1/10 of the energy. I put it forward that these exadurated claims are being made by the same people looking for a scape goat.

other notes
- Crims dont buy their firearms over the counter. Licencing is a complete farce in reality - designed to make mums and dads feel safer.
- Semi auto airguns make up less than 1% of all the rifles being licenced. This is a knee-jerk reaction designed to take the attention away from the real solution - arm the police. Ban the importing of semi auto air rifles. leave honest law abiding NZ citizens alone. Simple.