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NZ gun laws.; A then and now.
Topic Started: 10 Oct 2015, 12:14 PM (122 Views)
Sandy
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Back when I was a youngish fellow about 35 years ago getting a gun or guns was pretty easy here, it was just a matter of going to the police, applying for a firearms permit, waiting a couple of weeks or so, then going and getting the gun or guns you wanted.. Basically all the police wanted to know was our name and address, date of birth and what gun or guns we wanted, after that they did a couple of checks, such as if you had a record of any kind, usually violence, but also if you'd been in prison or not.. Assuming your checks came back okay you got your permit..

Permits to get firearms like AK 47's and such were a bit tougher, but they were only collecters items back then, so unless you knew anyone in the military, or someone who did the black market, ammunition was pretty hard to come by, if not impossible if you wanted to get it legally..

It was only in the last 15 or 20 years that photo firearms licences were introduced, and have to be renewed, I think every 5 years.. Getting a licence is very tough now, there's still checks to see if you have a criminal record or not, and also regular checks to make sure you're not.. psychiatrically unstable and likely to go out on a shooting spree or some such, any doubts on a psychiatrists part and you don't get the licence..

Firearms dealers have to be licenced, they also need a licence to sell firearms, part of their job is to visually sight a persons licence, and record any relevant info from it when they make a sale, the buyer also needs the okay from the police to buy any new weapons, when the firearms are sold, any identifying info on the gun is recorded against the buyers licence and also stored on police files..

Military style weapons are still only collectors items, so few of them can be bought with ammunition legally, if it's a really old and rare military firearm there may be a few people allowed ammunition for them, but having ammunition is a difficult thing as the laws etc are really strict, and random checks on owners are carried out by police to ensure the firearms are safely stored and any ammunition also safely stored or/and hidden away, usually under lock and key...
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Sandy
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I meant to add that, (touch wood) we haven't had any mass shootings here since the gun laws were introduced, we've had a few cases of people not positively identifying targets before shooting and a few cases of guns going off because it wasn't checked to ensure it wasn't loaded.. Before we had the new laws come in we had a massacre down in the south island in a place called Aramoana, I can't remember how many were killed, but there was around 10 people killed after a guy there went on a rampage in the township, I seem to recall he had a fairly big stash of weapons, both legal and illegal, with ammunition for all of them..

When I get a few minutes to spare I'll see if I can find something on Google about both Aramoana and the massacre there.. I'm trying to remember how long ago it happened, from memory it's over 20 years ago now.. It did get the government off their hands and say it was time to tighten up the gun laws here, and include a psychiatric evaluation in getting a firearms licence..

It was a pity it took the loss of several lives for firearms laws to come in here, but at the risk of sounding heartless, those lives weren't lost in vein, things were tightened up a lot because innocent people lost their lives...
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