The Only Party That Can Stop the Gun Laws in Their Tracks Is NZ First

A newspaper reports on protesters at the NZ First conference, over the proposed gun laws.

NZ First leader Winston Peters has met angry gun-owning protesters outside his party’s annual convention, but has avoided making any promises.

NZ First had staunchly opposed the tightening of gun laws over previous decades, but this year supported the two tranches of reforms the Government proposed after the March 15 Christchurch mosque shootings.

The first round of reforms, already passed into law, outlawed most military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles.

A bill that would implement the second round is currently before a select committee. It would, among other things, introduce a national gun register and ban visitors from getting a firearms licence.

About 100 Cantabrians gathered to protest near Latimer Square on Saturday morning, across the road from where New Zealand First’s annual conference was starting.

One of the organisers, Sam Kircher, said the protest was intended to show many NZ First supporters were also law-abiding gun users and to convince the party to pull its support for the Government’s second round of gun law reforms.

“We want to show NZF that we still exist. Try gain some support from them which we can reciprocate equally,” he said.

“They have been great supporters of us as licensed firearm owners in the past and we are hoping they’ll continue to do that in the future.”

Sam Kircher is showing some smarts, which many in the gun lobby have failed to do thus far. Screaming and abusing and threatening politicians just makes them ignore you. Sitting down and discussing issues like reasonable people gets you a lot further.

There are about 250,000 firearms licence holders in New Zealand. Police Minister Stuart Nash has estimated about 80 per cent of the gun-owning community supports the Government’s reforms.

Nash is deluded if he thinks that, but he is already on the hook for the failure of the buyback. He really should have listened to his advisors not to the police. He has no friends in Labour’s caucus (none that matter in any case), and so when things start going awry he will be marooned and will be the next minister sacked.

But Kircher, who said he voted for New Zealand First in 2017, said there were potentially thousands of votes at stake, and many had previously supported New Zealand First.

“If they do show us some support, we will absolutely reciprocate. We all vote for whoever aligns with our values the best.”

After opening the party’s conference, Peters went across the road to meet the protesters, accompanied by Government Ministers Ron Mark – an avid hunter, and Shane Jones, who was photographed with an AR-15 — the type of assault rifle used in the March 15 attack — while on holiday in Thailand this month.

The frustrated gun owners gathered around Peters, telling him they were “victims” of the legislation, saying they had been “persecuted”, and asking whether he would oppose the legislation.
The Deputy Prime Minister would not commit either way, but assured the group he would be listening to submissions during the Select Committee process.

“Given our provincial and rural background, we seriously understand why we’re having this debate and we’re going to listen as carefully as we can,” he said
“I hope then when it’s all over, whatever you think, you’ll think we behaved reasonably.”

National and Act could benefit from any voter backlash from the gun community.

Now before you all indulge yourselves with some stress-relieving, anti-Winston rhetoric you need to consider a few things.

Firstly, it is of no use declaring Winston the enemy and promising to shaft him at the election by voting ACT or New Conservative or National to punish him. That won’t stop the gun laws going through.

Secondly, ACT, National and the New Conservatives are not in government so there is literally nothing that can be done by them right now to stop the gun laws.

Thirdly, of the three government parties, only NZ First can stop the gun laws, or at the very least the more ridiculous aspects of the proposals, like the removal of the right to silence and an expensive gun register or the renewal regime.

It is actually quite simple, the party that stops the gun laws reaps the electoral benefits. Winston hasn’t been in parliament since Noah was in nappies by being stupid. He will have seen the 1% rise in the polls by ACT and he will realise that it happened because of ACT’s opposition to the proposed gun laws. There are 250,000 votes up for grabs at least. That is 10% of the voting public. But it is actually larger than that, as those people have family members who vote as well.

So, if the government wants to push this hard then at least ten percent of voters can cause some consternation.

There is electoral gold for the party that stops the legislation; moreover, this is not a confidence or a supply issue.

Choke back the sick in your mouths and look at the situation dispassionately. I am an ACT supporter and they will get my vote next year but right now they do NOT have the power right now to …well…act. NZ First do and they will be fools if they don’t. 10% of the vote is a prize worth having and it is well within their grasp.

Finally, you don’t think Jonesie’s missus put that picture up for shits and giggles do you? It was done for a reason.