The Arms Amendment Bill announced by the Government contains provisions to allow for the continuation of recreational and commercial hunting of large game animals, according to Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond.

“Military-style semi-automatic firearms are largely unsuitable for recreational large game animal hunting, meaning the changes proposed in the Bill will have little significant impact on recreational tahr, deer, chamois and feral pig hunters,” says Hammond.

“It must also be noted that there are exemptions for both wild animal management and commercial hunting by concession holders as both those activities do require the use of semi-automatic firearms and cannot effectively be carried out by other means.”

“However, these activities also take place on private land, something which the Bill does not address. We will be raising this issue as part of our submission to the select committee.”

The Game Animal Council acknowledges that the Govt is working on the details of a buyback scheme based on the principle of fair and reasonable compensation.

“While we do not have detail of the scheme as yet we expect the Government to deliver on that promise as there are several thousand law-abiding Kiwis who will be impacted by these prohibitions.”

“The Game Animal Council also supports the Government’s intention to take the necessary time to fully investigate the value of a firearms register, the Police vetting process and the appropriate storage of firearms before committing to further legislation,” says Hammond. “Those are issues that require proper analysis as all three measures would significantly increase compliance on firearms owners and the Police.”

The Game Animal Council will be examining the Bill in detail to identify any other issues that may be of concern to hunters of large game animals.

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