New Zealanders still do not feel safe from gun crime – according to a survey conducted in August by the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFOL).
Four years after the Labour government banned semi-automatic rifles and conducted the gun buy-back, the public is noticing more firearm crime, and believes a firearms register won’t reduce it.
A Clarity Insight poll run at the end of August for COLFO, revealed two thirds of the public believed the proposed registry would make no discernible difference to the level of firearm crime, COLFO spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said.
“Eighty percent of the public believe New Zealand is less safe than in 2019, and 83% have noticed an increase in gun crime since then,” he said. “That was the year Labour banned some types of firearms, conducted a buyback, and announced a raft of controls on licensed firearm owners – moves it claimed would make people safer.”
Policymakers were enticed into supporting a registry on the basis of public support, despite evidence and overseas experience that showed registries failed to work, Hugh said.
“Registries fail in the real world, so activists had to convince politicians by making simplistic claims of public support.
“Now that the public sentiment is correctly understood, we remind policy-makers that the real evidence is that the registry will cost an immense amount of money and will not decrease use of firearms to commit crimes.”
A Horizon survey commissioned by Gun Control NZ, asked people if they supported or opposed a registry, and a 1News poll asked people if they would ‘keep or abolish’ the registry.
But when asked if they felt more or less safe, the majority felt less safe, Hugh said.
The Clarity Insight poll underscored the public attitude toward a registry when it asked for comparison with alternative solutions. A registry ranked 5th, alongside ‘more police’ and ‘improved vetting of licensed firearm owners’.
Twice as many people preferred to have more search and seizures of firearms from gangs, and stronger penalties for illegal use of firearms.
Claimed support for a registry, was weak and illusory, Hugh said. When New Zealanders were asked whether they thought a registry would work, the answer was clear: no.
“When the registry fails, it will prove that more laws for licensed firearm owners is not the solution to gun crime,” he said.
