Media Release From The Council Of Licensed Firearms Owners Inc

The New Zealand Council of Licensed Firearms Owners Inc (COLFO), which represents the interests of some 220,000 firearms owners, today congratulated the Labour Government for their honesty and common sense approach with respect to the proposed Firearms Amendment Bill.

The Bill was intended to bring about the universal registration of firearms, COLFO President Michael Reeves said today ‘that the proposed registration of firearms was deeply flawed as it failed miserably to focus on those that pose a risk to our community, being the criminals and their continued misuse of firearms and the misuse of firearms by the mentally ill”.

“How on earth anybody could imagine criminals or the mentally ill registering firearms, is beyond my comprehension” said Mr Reeves.

Considering the proposed registration of firearms was going to cost the taxpayer some $100 million in our view, from the viewpoint of the wider community there is far more prudent things to expend such funds on e.g. presently the theft of a firearm was no more serious than stealing a chocolate bar.

COLFO strongly supports commonsense laws that focus on criminals and in turn the mentally ill, but cannot support laws that place oppressive restrictions over the law abiding without affecting the parties that cause the perception of a firearms problem in our community.

Mr Reeves said that COLFO would continue to work with various government departments, the Police and the Government in order to identify improvements to the laws to hinder the criminal misuse of firearms.

ENDS

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