circumstances of the Mosque assassin acquiring his
firearms. The Royal Commission
made it very clear that
it was police failure that allowed the assassin to acquire
a
firearms licence. The Commission’s final words in
section 5 of their report are
damning – ““We
find that New Zealand Police failed to meet required
standards in
the administration of the firearms
licensing system.”
holders legitimately buying firearms
and then selling them on the black market.”
There is
no surprise in this since Police themselves have given
firearms licences to 12
known gang members. Seems they
have not learned from the mosque experience.
However,
the question must be “why have those known gang members
The second “buy back” of newly illegal weapons is underway. Once again huge questions hang over the Government’s call for guns to be handed in. Neville Dodd, President of the Sporting Shooters Assn New Zealand, says “Several major points .