Lethal air guns to be reviewed

Police are to review the firearms laws after it was revealed the gun suspected of killing a police officer yesterday can be bought over the counter or on the internet by anyone over the age of 18.

Sergeant Don Wilkinson, 46, is believed to have been shot dead by a powerful, gas operated, rifle which shoots a pellet similar in size to a conventional.22 calibre rifle round.

A colleague is in a comfortable condition in hospital after also being shot while the pair were engaged a covert police operation at a suspected methamphetamine laboratory in Mangere East in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Police Commissioner Howard Broad said today he would be reviewing the Arms Act and the availability of air rifles

"Policy responsibility for the Arms Act is actually mine so I will have a look at that."

The New Zealand Council for Licensed Firearms Owners says airguns have become increasingly powerful, and some are the equivalent of hunting rifles.

"Some of those air guns are as powerful as a high-powered hunting rifle," the council's executive director, John Howatt, told Radio New Zealand.

"You need to have a firearms licence, training and be assessed by police to have a high-powered hunting rifle.

"It is unreasonable you should be able to go out and buy an air rifle just because you are 18."

It is understood there are thousands of the high-powered air rifles in New Zealand.

Last year a seven-year-old Napier girl survived after being accidentally shot in the head with by her father with an airgun.

It is understood the pellet went right through the girl's head.

At the time one person advertising a similar air gun for sale said it could fire a pellet through both sides of a baked beans can.

The council said it was wrong they could still be owned without a licence and it hoped they would be restricted in upcoming changes to the Arms Act.

Mr Wilkinson, 46, and his partner, 44, were trying to install a tracking device on a car outside a house being used as a suspected P lab in Hain Avenue, Mangere.

They were disturbed by occupants of the house, chased 75 metres down the road and Mr Wilkinson was shot dead. His partner, whose name is suppressed by court order, was shot several times but his injuries were not life threatening.

Yesterday a 37-year-old man was charged with murdering Mr Wilkinson and a 33-year-old man was charged with assaulting him.

They were both granted name suppression when they appeared in Manukau District Court and were remanded in custody to appear again later this month.

- NZPA