Firearms control
Sir, — The old adage of the police having custody of all firearms has been revived by Malcolm Robinson (July 11). Statistics will show how ridiculous this idea is. There are more than 700.000 registered rifles and perhaps half as many shotguns, which do not require registration — that is more than one million firearms. If one policeman was made responsible for each 100 firearms (a not-unreasonable job for care, custody, issue and retrieval) we would need 10,000 extra officers. Compared with the number of firearms held by responsible citizens, the amount of armed crime is negligible. Criminals by their very nature will always obtain a weapon and to deprive ordinary persons of their rightful property as a panacea to prevent armed offences, is like using a sledge-hammer to crack a nut. Far better to punish armed offenders severely under existing laws and take away their right to own a firearm for a very long time. — Yours, etc., W. H. CARTER,
President, New Zealand Deerstalkers Association (North Canterbury branch). July 12, 1979.
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Press, 16 July 1979, Page 16
Word Count
172Firearms control Press, 16 July 1979, Page 16
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