Arms control

New Zealand has an entrenched gun culture but do we have the laws necessary to patrol it? Geoff Taylor reports.

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A Hamilton gun enthusiast strokes the handle of his Smith and Wesson 44 calibre pistol. The gun looks just like something out of an old cowboy film and dates to the pre-1900 American wild west days. How many hands have held this gun over all those years? Images of cowboys maybe even gunfighters come to mind. He passes it to the Waikato Times reporter to hold before carefully placing it back in its sturdy lockup an ex-bank safe.

The same day of the Times visit, Hamilton police were doing some visits of their own.

Before dawn, a Nawton man was arrested as police picked up 17 people around the country in dramatic raids, apparently related to suspected weapons training camps in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. It sounded a comical venture, with reports of a mini terrorist campaign to overthrow the New Zealand Government. But police weren't messing around. Most people picked up face firearms charges.

Illegal use of firearms is already an issue in the Waikato because of concerns that powerful weapons are making it on to a black market. Two of the region's gun collectors are before the courts on serious charges. John Mabey, of Coromandel Peninsula's Hot Water Beach, faces firearms charges and a charge of making a false statement after telling Waikato police in July his collection had been stolen. Police fear many of about 120 guns are now in the hands of criminals.

During a nationwide police operation last December, Hamilton collector Dale Jenner tried to sell guns to an undercover policeman. He also faced charges related to 30 weapons in his collection which included semi-automatic weapons and rocket launchers. Gun collectors are wary of kneejerk reactions. They say 99 per cent of the 3000 collectors in New Zealand, who have an estimated 70,000 firearms, are totally responsible and would never sell to anyone without a current firearms licence. Some believe fear of firearms is exaggerated, and point out that deaths and injuries from firearms in New Zealand are uncommon.

Guns are widespread in New Zealand. An estimated 210,000 people have gun licences and participate in hunting or sports shooting at clubs. New Zealand has an estimated 1.1 million firearms and an entrenched gun culture.

While most of the rank and file shooters get on with their recreation responsibly, it is collections featuring powerful, military-type weapons that have attracted attention from the police recently, posing questions about whether rules for collectors are being enforced tightly enough.

OPERATION DAISY, a police raid last December of 55 properties, mainly gun dealers and collectors around the country, was a big deal. Police sources say it was launched after the discovery of a cache of high-powered weapons during the manhunt for Outcasts gang fugitive Kim Smith near Port Waikato in 2005.

Police obtained information about a trade in unregistered firearms, sold to people without licences or who had been prohibited from holding licences. Distribution was organised on the internet. Arrests were made and the raid turned up the fact that many collectors had unlicensed firearms. About 500 weapons were confiscated about 20 per cent of the collections checked. Weapons seized included machine guns and assault rifles and pistols like those used by various anti-terrorist units police and military around the world. Hamilton's Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Whitehead, who was involved in the raid, was appalled by the finds both legal and illegal.

"I've been a police officer just on 35 years and I must say I'm a little bit shocked to see the number of firearms that people lawfully hold," he said at the time.

Dinsdale's Dale Jenner tried to sell two unregistered restricted firearms to an undercover policeman and had 30 of his collection of more than 200 weapons confiscated. His collection most of it legal was an eye-opener. The cache, some of it displayed by police at court in August when Jenner appeared, included military-style semi-automatic weapons, a rocket launcher, grenade launchers, homemade claymore mines, live grenades and 15kg of explosives. Jenner has yet to be sentenced.

Meanwhile, police continue to search for more than 120 firearms which belonged to Hot Water Beach collector John Mabey.

Hamilton's Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls says only five of the firearms have been recovered. Police are understandably concerned. Guns are becoming more common in the drug scene, particularly where methamphetamine is concerned.

"Anecdotally we are coming across more people in possession of firearms when we execute search warrants on those individuals in the drug scene and that is a huge concern for us."

Innocent people might get injured in fallouts over drug deals, he says.

"Also there is the unpredictability of those people when they are under the influence of methamphetamines and they are being dealt with by police."

Nicholls says shotguns, which are more easily acquired, are common in crime but those involved higher up in the methamphetamine scene prefer pistols, which are easier to conceal.

Last year, a truck driver was jailed for the gruesome murders of Omokoroa couple Mikaere O'Sullivan and Toni-Anne Nathan who were executed at close range with a sawn-off shotgun under a bridge near Tauranga. The murders were over money O'Sullivan owed him for methamphetamine.

What sort of black market exists for firearms? A review of New Zealand's firearms scene in 1997 by Sir Thomas Thorp estimated the country had between 10,000 and 25,000 illegal weapons, mainly sourced from purchases, theft and illegal imports.

On Wednesday, TV3 ran a news item about the number of high-powered firearms being intercepted at New Zealand borders.

But Philip Alpers, a long-time proponent of greater gun control says the vast majority of firearms used in crimes are stolen from within the country. He is able to provide a long list of reported burglaries from gun collectors in recent years.

WEDNESDAY is a rainy club night at Hamilton Pistol Club, down a valley opposite Hamilton Airport.

Members file in any time from 6.30 and the rain doesn't seem to put them off. Tonight there are nearly 40 there, men and women, including some guests Air Training Corp (ATC) members who have arrived for a firearm safety course. Hamilton police also regularly use the range for their shooting practice.

"Its funny. The crappier the night, the more people you get," says one member.

There are about a dozen ranges and shots ring out sporadically. At one range a shooter fires off six shots from a revolver at a moving target while a range officer stands directly behind him ensuring safety. The acrid smell of gunpowder hovers in the air.

Club captain Howard (who didn't want his second name used for security reasons) explains an array of safety measures.

Everyone must sign in at the clubrooms, everyone has ear muffs and safety glasses. There is no alcohol on site. Training is comprehensive newbies start on air pistols. Members follow set procedures about unpacking guns, loading of guns, where to stand when others are shooting and strict procedures once they have fired off their rounds. Police do regular checks. No camouflage gear is worn, it creates a bad image. Human- shaped targets are not allowed. These people are dedicated to their sport and disciplined about it. Howard, a big, gregarious, bearded man wearing a red club shirt says he especially enjoys organising shooting competitions.

"We like to see the young members coming through."

He's been a member for 18 years and has seen teenagers develop into good shooters and grow up in the process.

"They have to follow strict rules and it seems to mature them pretty quickly. They become responsible young adults."

Members take part in numerous club events and competitions around the country and in November next year the club hosts the World Action Pistol Shoot.

Hamilton Pistol Club has about 120 members, and New Zealand has more than 80 clubs with about 2500 members.

When calls for greater gun control occur, it is organisations like these that can be affected. Howard indicates that he is only too aware of the political backlash that can occur after massacres such as that in Dunblane, Scotland.

Kingsley Field, the president of the New Zealand Cartridge Collectors Club and a Times outdoors columnist, was brought up with guns as a boy on a King Country farm.

He emphasises the integral role guns play in New Zealand life. Thousands of people gain great enjoyment out of target shooting or hunting.

"For some it's a real collecting hobby as well. Some guys have an excellent knowledge of the history of arms and military history."

Collectors come from all walks of life doctors, lawyers, truck drivers all drawn together by the common interest.

"For me, it's wonderfully interesting, and in the process (of collecting) I've learnt a great deal of New Zealand and international history that I wouldn't have otherwise known about."

New Zealand's history of gold mining has helped to make the country something of a "goldmine" for collectable firearms. Miners from the US, Australia, Europe and China brought firearms to New Zealand and many such firearms are still turning up in places like the Coromandel Peninsula, West Coast and Otago.

Field, who has scaled down his collections, says collectors have generally known one another for years.

On November 10 and 11 firearms organisations will take part in a recreation of a World War II battle as part of the Cambridge Armistice Commemorations.

What do Waikato gun collectors think of the arrests of two of their members?

Field knows Jenner well and says he's sorry he's in trouble.

"I think he acknowledges that he's made a couple of unwise decisions and I'm sure he regrets it." Field says new collectors are treated a little warily at first until they prove themselves and gain confidence.

So what do most collectors say if someone without a licence wants to buy a gun?

"Most collectors would say `naff off'.

"They would not want to put in jeopardy their own collections, and criminals are not the type of people they want to deal with anyway."

- © Fairfax NZ News