We found out the hard way that police have slippery hands when it comes to hanging onto confiscated guns, and now two Glock pistols have been stolen from a police car in Gore.
“A man is on the run after ramming two police cars, stealing one, then making off on foot with two stolen guns.
Police said they tried to stop a vehicle in Gore, Southland, shortly before midnight on Wednesday.
The driver rammed a police car, then stole the vehicle and rammed into another police car before fleeing on foot.
Two police Glock handguns were taken from the stolen patrol car, police said.”
Stuff
This is pure Keystone cops when a police attempt to apprehend a suspect backfires when he makes off with their guns!
Remember the Palmerston North debacle where the public handed in guns but criminals opened the unlocked back door of the police station to steal the guns?
“Despite increasing pressure, police remain steadfast in their refusal to release any more details about the theft of firearms from the Palmerston North police station.
Eleven guns were stolen from the police station on Anzac Day morning. While eight have since been recovered, three are still missing.”
Stuff
Then there was the case of the nine guns police confiscated but were unable to find and return to their rightful owner because they had no paper trail.
“Auckland police have been forced to compensate a man for losing track of nine guns he surrendered to them.
In January 2017 the man surrendered eight rifles and a shotgun to the Waitemata station after a Family Court judge issued a temporary protection order against him.
It is standard practice for police to demand a person’s firearms and firearms licence when serving protection orders. Police are also required to store the guns until the order is lifted.
In April, when the order was lifted, the man went to the North Shore Police Station to ask for the guns, but they could not be found.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found the police failed to tag and store the guns correctly, and arms officers at the station were not aware they’d been handed in. Police believe the guns were mistakenly destroyed.
But the authority’s report said due to “multiple failings to comply with procedure”, in particular not completing paperwork, it wasn’t possible to determine what happened to the firearms.”
Radio NZ
This suggests guns are safer in public hands than in the hands of the police.
If the police can’t be trusted to keep their own guns out of criminal hands how are they going to manage a National gun register?
But take a step back, and you have to question the logic in introducing hasty gun law reform before the police and the public were clear on the execution of that law, giving criminals a clear advantage.
It’s complete madness to remove guns from responsible gun owners and hand them over to police who’ve proven they are a soft target for criminals.
Our gun law reform is a complete disaster.