“I want to assure that the work that we are doing is not directed at you.”
Terrorism and security expert, professor of law at the University of Waikato, Alexander Gillespie, told The Australian Financial Review that both the ban, and a buyback would be good policy.
“I would strongly recommended a Howard-style buyback. You can’t just demand that people hand over their guns and not compensate them for it…99 per cent of firearms owners are good citizens and if they lose something they should be compensated,” Professor Gillespie said.
Professor Gillespie made a submission to the previous government’s 2017 review into firearms, after a methamphetamine lab was raided and 16 military-grade rifles found under the floorboards. Those weapons were illegal, but Professor Gillespie says this time it was about public safety and regulating legal weapons.
“In 2017 it was much easy for the gun lobby to talk about the criminals, and I have some sympathy with that, but Christchurch has shown us it was a lawful citizen who was completely under the radar who went into a shop and bought these weapons.”
One of the remarkable loopholes in New Zealand gun laws means that a person can get a “Category A” licence for a semi-automatic weapon, which can only fire five or 10 rounds. Unlike a “Category E” licence, these weapons do not need to be registered. However, by simply changing the cartridge, the capacity could be increased to 30 or 40 rounds or much more. Because cartridges are plastic, they can be ordered online and are difficult to intercept.
Professor Gillespie says the Howard-era laws in Australia had clearly been a success.
“If you look at it in terms of a declining rate of homicide by firearm, Australia’s rate has declined much faster than New Zealand. Sadly also, the success of the Howard laws is shown by the fact that this massacre happened in New Zealand, not in Australia.”
While New Zealand’s screening process for getting a firearms licences was pretty good – involving police checks, character references and visits from the police or a community member to check out prospective gun owners – it can’t stop those who are smart and motivated, Professor Gillespie said.
“It’s a pretty good process, but the problem is with what you see in Christchurch, when you deal with someone from the extreme right who is smart enough to stay under the radar.
“That’s the achilles heel. Effectively they’re invisible to the system, and when that’s the case, the only choice you have left is to remove that risk: the firearm.”
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