Identifying the target

Press, 13 May 1986, Page 10

Identifying the target

The Prime Minister, Mr Lange, has shot himself in the foot with his attempt to link gun clubs and shooters with firearms offences. No responsible person would quibble with Mr Lange’s assertion that too many people are being threatened or harmed by offensive weapons, but by drawing a bead on the recreational use of firearms Mr Lange has not identified his target properly before opening fire. Mr Lange is unhappy that New Zealanders are prepared to accept that people should have access to some kinds of firearms for recreational use. He would be “quite happy to do away with that,” he says, because there will always be the possibility of abuse of the weapons used in sports. Indeed there is, just as there is always the possibility that a kitchen knife, a household hatchet, or a baseball bat will be misused as an offensive weapon. Mr Lange can no more disinvent the gun than he can disinvent the atomic bomb or the club. The fault lies not with the firearm, but

with the person who resorts to it for criminal purposes. Control of firearms users by licensing is far preferable to creating an underground industry in firearms which is what would result from a blanket ban on firearm ownership. Cullers, pest destruction board employees, and farmers, among others, can demonstrate a legitimate purpose for firearm ownership quite outside recreational use, yet a deer culler’s job is a deer stalker’s sport. How would Mr Lange draw the line? Mr Lange would do better to support his Government’s intention to tighten up the Crimes Act provisions on the carrying and use of all offensive weapons, including firearms, and to provide heavier penalties for transgressors. Attempting to make a whipping boy of recreational shooters confuses the issue. The proper target is not law-abiding sportsmen and women, but the criminal who uses a weapon in the commission of a crime. Mr Lange should set his sights fixedly on the offender, not the instrument.