Some alarming information has come to hand that despite the clear failures from Police that led to the tragedy at Christchurch, the Police are hell-bent on ramming through further changes that materially, negatively affect licensed firearms owners.

Chris Cahill, the Police union mouthpiece, is pushing hard for registration and Police HQ looks to ready to acquiesce to his wishes and announce registration.

The impetus comes after several firearms incidents at night clubs involving pistols. What the Police don’t tell the unquestioning media or the public in the push for registration off the back of those criminal incidents, is that pistols are already registered. If a register hasn’t stopped those particular crimes then how is a wider register going to stop crime? In short, it won’t.

Our tipline is running hot with credible sources saying that, cynically, the announcement may be made just before the Christmas holiday period, to avoid any and all questions.

In the spirit of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” here are 12 tricky questions Police HQ will not answer about firearms registration.

  1. Will Police HQ explain why there are now massive delays in anything to do with firearms?
  2. Why do Police HQ use union boss Chris Cahill to front proposals?
  3. Does union boss Chris Cahill or Police HQ or the Police Minister make firearms policy?
  4. Does the Police Minister know registration and the subsequent failure of registration will be political suicide?
  5. Can Police HQ show the results of its consultation with firearms owners over registration?
  6. When will the mistakes in the current registration system for collectors be fixed?
  7. Where is the business case for registration?
  8. What are the Key Performance Indicators to judge the success of registration?
  9. Where is the budget proposal for extra firearms personnel for registering hundreds of thousands of hunting firearms?
  10. How will Police HQ pay for the extra IT resources needed for registering hundreds of thousands of hunting firearms?
  11. Who will take responsibility for data security given police members have been prosecuted in the past for giving information to gangs?
  12. How will police register antique firearms (that don’t have serial numbers) that belong to the general public?

Lastly, because Cahill is a gift that just keeps giving: Will union boss Cahill take personal responsibility for the failure of registration?

The Police can barely manage the licensing regime; what makes them think that a gun register won’t end in an INCIS scale disaster?

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news,...