COLFO UPDATE: Court challenge update

COLFO’s application for judicial review of Stuart Nash’s regulations preventing fair compensation for now prohibited ammunition had been allocated a hearing date in the Wellington High Court of 4 & 5 May. However with the Covid19 lock down there is likely to be a change either in the date of the Hearing and/or the way it is conducted eg. Via video link. Once there is an update we will advise through our Fair and Reasonable campaign email blasts. Meanwhile we continue to work at assembling expert witnesses evidence.

Our lawyers are currently investigating a second claim which has wider implications than just ammo. Should this be deemed viable we will let you know. You can follow the pro-gress of the legal action on our website:

www.fairandreasonable.co.nz

ARMS LEGISLATION BILL 2019 AND SOP 408 THE FINAL CUT

At the second reading of the Bill National and Act voted to oppose it. Although NZ First voted to support the Bill through its second reading, they had some serious reservation about it. During the committee stage of the whole house that followed NZF went into ne-gotiation with Labour to make some changes, the outcome of which has yet to be seen. Meanwhile with parliament in recess due to Covid 19 the whole process is on hold for the foreseeable future.

PROPOSED INCREASE IN LICENCE AND OTHER FEES ANNOUNCED

The next piece of work for the lawmakers is the update to Regulations. We expect this to include an introduction to some new fees. User pays no doubt. Our expectation is that fees for applications for permits will be introduced. There will also be a raise in the licens-ing and renewal of licence fees. These have yet to be announced. We are keeping an eye out though and will keep in touch on any changes we see on the horizon.

“The next piece of work for the lawmakers is the update to Regulations. We expect this to include an introduction to some new fees. User pays no doubt.”

ROYAL COMMISSION INQUIRY REPORT

The Royal Commission Inquiry report is due on 30 April 2020. Again with the lockdown we can expect there may be a delay in the presentation of this report. What will be of in-terest to all though is that now Tarrant has plead guilty to all charges laid against him, there will be no need to keep the findings of the RCI secret.

There was some thought that if he plead not guilty, the findings of the RCI would be held back from the public while the trial took place. We expect that outcomes relating to matters of national security will be re-dacted but see no reason why any other findings should be kept from public scrutiny. We await the Commission’s report with interest.

AUDITOR-GENERAL AUDIT OF THE FIREARM BUY-BACK SCHEME

Originally the Auditor General’s report into the running of the firearms “buy-back” scheme was due in February 2020. It was delayed to March 2020. As COLFO writes our newsletter we are at the end of March so expect the report to be delayed a further month, at least. With the lockdown in place, we would not be surprised if the delay is extended past April 2020.

ANOTHER DATA BREACH AND COVER UP EXPOSED

National MP Shane Reti has exposed another data beach that was covered up by the Prime Ministers Office. He revealed that firearm licence details were among the personal data breached in the massive Tuia250 digital security failure and the Government kept it secret.

It appears that the Government deliberately withheld publicly advising that firearms licences were also part of the data leaked. COLFO believes the explanation for the cover up was that it occurred just before the government announced their plan for a full firearm register.

FIREARM PROHIBITION ORDERS

In addition to the Police’s call for comment on the governments proposed FPOs, National Party Brett Hudson has had his Private Members Bill drawn from the ballot to be included in this terms parliamentary business. While COLFO agrees in principal with FPOs we do have concerns that some of the content will be prohibitive against law abiding licenced owners. We have reached out to the National Party offering assistance to formulate a robust FPO that does not impede too greatly on the law abiding.

“It appears that the Government deliberately withheld publicly advising that firearms licences were also part of the data leaked. COLFO believes the explanation for the cover up was that it occurred just before the government announced their plan for a full firearm register.”

POLICE RAIDS

Leading up to the Covid 19 lockdown Police have continued to raid unsuspecting and innocent LFOs. In the most recent incident a family with a small baby were raided by four armed police searching for 4 firearms that their own records should have told them had been handed in.

This highlights our already raised concerns about the Police’s ability to manage firearm records. Please get in touch with us if you have been the subject of a raid where armed Police are trying to locate firearms you have already handed in, or armed Police are in your opinion getting heavy handed.

Remember to take names and details of officers who come to your home and don’t forget we have some advice on what to do if you are raided on our www.fairandreasonable.co.nz website under the “Resources” heading.

COLFO EXPOSES MORE POLICE LIES

In justifying new harsher restriction on shooting clubs and ranges police claimed that they had evidence of numerous examples of range safety and noise issues reported by local authorities. Following Official Information Act requests to all Councils it has been shown that of the 75 councils that responded only two had received noise complaints and one of those was when the range was in use by police out of authorised hours.