The New Zealand Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai has serious concerns relating to the current restricted consultation process for proposed firearms legislation reform, particularly the review of the Firearms Registry.

The association represents 98 per cent of all sworn police and 75 per cent of Police employees. We were established nearly 90 years ago and remain the acknowledged voice of policing matters in Aotearoa.

It is our members who are literally in the firing line, combatting the threats posed by criminals all too willing to use firearms. It is police officers and employees who are responsible for administration of the Arms Act and ensuring compliance with this legislation.

However, the association has been deliberately excluded as a voice in the review of crucial aspects of firearms reform legislation. Given our lengthy history in promotion of the safety of our members and the protection of the public, we consider our exclusion raises serious concerns about the integrity of the reviews and the independence of the Associate Minister of Justice, Nicole McKee, designated as responsible for firearms legislation.

The association lobbied for the banning of semi-automatic assault rifles and for the introduction of a firearms registry following the 1990 Aramoana massacre in which Police Sergeant Stuart Guthrie was amongst the victims. Despite Justice Thorp’s 1997 recommendations of a buy-back of MSSAs and the registration of all firearms, nothing was done as politicians succumbed to gun lobby pressure.

In 2016 the association secured a select committee hearing into firearms laws - a process driven by police officers’ testimony to criminals increasingly arming themselves and being willing to pull the trigger. Despite the committee’s clear recommendations for law changes, then Police Minister Paula Bennett, under pressure from a gun lobby headed by Nicole McKee, ignored all significant changes proposed. The changes that should have been made could very well have meant a much different outcome for New Zealand on March 15, 2019.

After that tragedy Parliament finally voted, almost unanimously, for widespread change including the establishment of a firearms registry and the banning of semi-automatic assault rifles of the type used to kill 51 people.

Yet, five years later, the gun lobbyist who was active in the 2016 gutting of select committee recommendations now leads the coalition government’s review. In doing so, as minister she has deliberately excluded the association, an established key stakeholder in the firearms debate, because our voice is not in lockstep with her desired outcome. Why else would the only body whose members deal daily with the consequences of illegal firearms, and who understand the safety value of a registry, be shut out of this process?

Constable Matthew Hunt was one of those members. In March 2020 he was gunned down by a criminal using a ‘diverted’ semi-automatic assault rifle. The registry is designed to combat such diversion of guns to organised criminal groups and make frontline Police staff safer. Why would we abandon the tools fashioned to mitigate a repeat?

It is implausible to consider the association is not an interested party in this policy formulation, and yet 17 firearms interest groups are, outnumbering the eight selected groups likely to support the status quo. Our evidence is credible and our experience of working with firearms legislation is found nowhere else in the country.

The association is also concerned about a glaring lack of evidence driving the reviews with the minister citing little more than expressed concerns from firearms owners.

It is important to bear in mind that the registry will not be fully operational until 2028, so while this review at the 20 per cent-built stage was a coalition condition of the Act Party, it is nevertheless a pointless waste of time and money, and the review process itself is anything but independent.

The association calls on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to intervene and acknowledge the association as an interested party, vital to any balanced consultation process for firearms reform legislation and the review of the Firearms Registry. We do this not just because Mr Luxon heads this coalition government, but also based on the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s definition of the role of Prime Minister in determination of the title and scope of each portfolio, its area of operation and the legislation administered within the portfolio.

We also ask that Police Minister Mark Mitchell is given oversight of this process, given the men and women he is responsible for will be most affected by the outcomes.

Yours sincerely
Chris Cahill
President
New Zealand Police Association, Te Aka Hāpai

(As a courtesy the Police Association is emailing this letter to Mr Luxon’s office before publishing it on Monday 12 August).

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