Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand Inc.
www.sportingshooters.nz
New Zealand Police claim they wish to make New Zealand the safest country in the world, yet in their 62-page discussion document proposing regulations to govern shooting clubs and ranges they are doing the exact opposite, says Sporting Shooters Association Media Director Rob Cope-Williams. “ Nowhere in the document does it describe the problem they are trying to solve with these regulations.”
He goes on to say, “clubs and their ranges, most of which are governed by National organisations, have an exemplary safety record. They are the safest place where a young person or novice can learn to shoot, yet these regulations as proposed will see many clubs and ranges close, when the reality is we need more of both.”
Most shooting clubs are run by volunteers, often aided by family members, yet they will be discouraged from volunteering their time by the sheer volume of bureaucratic nonsense required in seeking club approval from the commissioner.
As a result, many clubs will close and their ranges with them.
Further, the fees proposed by police to recover their costs together with the cost of providing audited accounts and other compliance costs will run to $1,000s. This again will put the future of clubs in doubt.
Finally, many ranges will close simply because the landowner, who may well not be a shooter himself, will not wish to accept the liability and responsibility imposed by the new regulations.
All this will make New Zealand less safe as communities lose opportunities to educate their people on safe firearm use and shooters are left with no option but to shoot on ad hoc ranges set up on public or private land.