Who can think about the most insensitive thing someone could do right now in Aotearoa New Zealand?
How about run a petition AGAINST the banning of military style semi automatic weapons?
Well I can go one further. How about having sold the weapons to the killer then use or allow your business email account to urge others to sign the petition?
Sounds too far fetched?
Well that is what is happening.
From Derek Cheng at the Herald:
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a ban on MSSAs and assault rifles last week, after the terrorist attack in Christchurch. Legislation is expected to be introduced on Tuesday and passed under urgency. It has support across the political spectrum.
The legislation is expected to become law by April 11. There will be a truncated select committee process to hear public submissions. The Government is also working on the details of a buy-back scheme, estimated to cost up to $200 million.
In response, Gun City emailed its subscribers today and urged them to sign a petition to Parliament.
The petition, in the name of Hayden Livingstone, started on Monday and had 10,786 signatures by 5pm on Friday.
The petition requested “an in-depth public consultation period on changes to New Zealand firearms legislation, to ensure effective firearms legislation reform that does not unduly punish law-abiding firearms owners while maintaining assurances of public safety”.
It called the Government’s gun law reforms “ill-advised, partly due to the speed at which they have been implemented and also due to (understandable) emotionally driven public pressure”.
The Gun City email, obtained by the Herald, asked for more information on the Government’s proposed buy-back scheme, including whether it would compensate for gun accessories and ammunition, lost income or employment, booked travel to events to use MSSAs, or losses from investment in shooting facilities.
It also called for an independent inquiry into how the gunman in the Christchurch shootings obtained a firearms licence.
To that should be added an inquiry into how he obtained the guns, just to be safe. And while at it they should inquire into the good character requirements for gun shop owners. Just to make sure that we do not have owners of these businesses have anything untoward in their background either here or overseas.
Gun City’s email had a link to a Council of Licenced Firearms Owners document which suggests all of the talking points that gun nuts use world wide such as “you are confiscating my property from me and I am not being given a chance to have any say about it”, and “I do not like the way I am being treated. I have not done anything wrong. I am law-abiding.”
I am pleased that there is near unanimity amongst all of our MPs in support of the proposal. If not quite complete unanimity …
Act Party David Seymour has also criticised the “rushed process” of the legislation and said it would “deny the public the chance to have their say”.
He said it could lead to legislation that failed to solve the problem.
“Trying to pass a law in less than three weeks is a recipe for bad lawmaking.”
This is the first step. There will be a full review of all gun laws. But ridding ourselves of these weapons of evil seems to me to be the first thing that should be done.
It is hardly as if it has no International comparison. Australia and the UK have banned these weapons. And Australia has had a buy back scheme operate.
There are 13,500 known MSSAs in New Zealand and it is estimated that the buy back process could cost up to $200 million. That makes the cost about $17,400 per gun which does not seem right although I appreciate there will be police resources, collection costs, advertising and disposal costs on top.
But let’s get rid of them. And to all those people out there that they are law abiding and innocent there is an example of someone said to be law abiding and innocent who had a significant role in what happened. And he does not have the decency to realise it.
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