The Prime Minister has hinted that gun legislation may be subject to
future review following the Napier siege.
Gun advocates
say changes to gun laws are unnecessary, while gun control lobbyists say New
Zealand is on a par with the United States.
Almost 250,000
New Zealanders have a licence to own firearms, the vast majority of them
sportsmen. Many fear another crackdown following the outrage in
Napier.
"There is a fear of a knee-jerk reaction, we've
had it before," says Trevor Dyke, Licensed Firearms Owners
Council.
But unease about secret arsenals in private gun
cupboards goes all the way to the top.
"I think there is
genuine concern about the widespread retainment of arms on an unregistered basis
by New Zealanders," say John Key.
Under our system, it is
the owners rather than their guns that are registered, a system that allows a
single license holder to accumulate an arsenal by legally buying up dozens of
firearms.
The police have lost track of who owns
what.
"The problem is they have no idea because they
aren't registered, and haven't been registered since 1983," says Philip Alpers,
anti-gun lobbyist.
Even high-powered military style
weapons are constantly changing hands - often in private transactions on the
internet.
Semi-automatic assault rifles which can fire the
same .223 calibre round that killed Senior Constable Len Snee can be purchased
by any ordinary gun license holder .
"You can't control
guns without making each firearm owner personally accountable for each firearm
by its serial number," says Mr Alpers.
But gun rights
campaigners say tighter controls are not the answer.
"It's
these other issues out there," says Mr Dyke, "people without licences who seem
to be collecting firearms or have had a licence revoked and still have their
firearms."
And after almost 30 years of unchecked firearm
purchases, the days of keeping track of them are long
gone.
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