Kiwis might be well known for their laid back attitude, but we are also proponents of giving everyone a ‘fair go’. A government retrospectively making a legal possession illegal and then demanding that it is handed back without compensation has made the majority of previously law-abiding Kiwi gun owners dig their toes in.
Only 530 guns have been handed in so far by people who trusted the government to compensate them fairly once they had crunched the numbers. Their trust was misplaced as they have been informed that they will get zero compensation for complying during the amnesty period.
That leaves gun owners who didn’t trust the government to do the right thing now completely certain that they will be financially shafted if they now hand in their guns.
The government, on the other hand, don’t seem to understand why it has all gone so horribly wrong. Now that they have met with resistance they are stuck between a rock and hard place “primarily because the firearms the government is confiscating have never been registered with authorities.”
They simply do not know where they are or who owns them!
In reality, New Zealand is quite heavily armed per capita, with an estimated 1.2-1.5 million guns in a country of approximately 4.7 million people. […]
There is, of course, that sticky and ever-present issue of money. Not only will Aotearoa citizens suffer the indignity of being stripped of their guns, but they will also be taxed for the privilege. Some estimates bantered about by New Zealand lawmakers went as high as $500 million to $1 billion to pay for the confiscation scheme. But the truth is, authorities have no idea what it will ultimately cost. Should citizens keep up their non-compliance, then not very much. This would make for a Kiwi win which would allow them to keep their guns and money. But the penalties are stiff for such roguery: those who refuse to surrender their prohibited firearms could be sentenced to a five-year stay in the slammer.
[…] Perhaps simply ignoring the new regulations may be effective, and law enforcement will find it impractical to round up the firearms of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Whether it becomes an exercise in futility for the government, a quest for a bigger bang for their buck by the people, or merely a quiet sidestep of hastily approved laws […]
It could just be that these laid-back Kiwis are poised to teach us a lesson in how to resist the oppressive and ham-handed fist of a tyrannical government.
zerohedge