New Zealanders Hanging On, while Brits on the Brink

Opinion

New Zealand and Rifle
It’s quite common for New Zealanders to own long guns. The country is full of ranches and farms, all owned by families who come from long lines of frontiersmen.

Ft Collins, CO –-(Ammoland.com)- From a friend currently visiting New Zealand:

“There’s still a strong ‘Warrior Heritage’ here in New Zealand!

Not only via ancient Maori traditions, but also more recent contributions during WWI battles, particularly the Gallipoli Invasion.

Lots of war memorials and symbols here. I am told everyone on the Island during those years had at least one family member who died fighting the Great War. Many restaurants display facsimiles of military rifles of the period, and the symbology is embedded in much local architecture.

I’ve been surprised to see more than a few gun retailers! We stopped in one local gunshop, where we saw a large selection of hunting rifles, optics and other accouterments, and copious amounts of ammunition.

I was not expecting that!

The owner said it’s quite common for New Zealanders to own long guns. The country is full of ranches and farms, all owned by families who come from long lines of frontiersmen.

Rifles, shotguns, and ammunition may legally be kept in private homes. Handgun ownership is much less common, and is restricted to the ‘politically connected.’

Concealed carry of handguns (by non-police) is unheard of.

‘Ordinary’ citizens can go through the interminable paperwork required to ‘apply’ to own a pistol, but applications can be arbitrarily denied (and usually are), with no explanation.

Firearms ownership is regarded here as a ‘privilege,’ not a ‘right,’ and it is thus enjoyed only by the ‘approved.’

There are ‘levels of certification,’ each requiring additional paperwork and ever-higher political connections.

Each level adds additional ‘privileges,’ like semi-auto long guns, pistol-grips and other ‘military features,’ ultimately handguns.

New Zealanders don’t enjoy nearly the level of personal freedom that most Americans do, but they are far less restricted than are denizens of the UK!”

Comment:

And currently in the UK, ten percent of police are armed, and I think every single one was at the Royal Wedding.

In the “gun-free utopia” that the UK likes to think of itself as, there are curiously always plenty of guns protecting the “ruling class.” Guns are apparently ‘evil,” unless they’re protecting politicians.

Have we heard that before?

In an additional expression of national hypocrisy, UK’s National Police Council has had to grudgingly admit that their vaunted fleet of Armed Response Vehicles (ARMs), with a crew of thirteen firearms-qualified officers, which were intended to be “first at the scene” of “firearms incidents,” are mostly irrelevant in rural areas!

The Council is just now “discovering” response-times for these ARMs is so long in some locations that there is no way they could possibly influence the outcome of an armed-terrorist incident.

So, there is now even serious talk of rural UK LEOs being “routinely armed.”

Wow! Is nothing sacred?

Brits on the brink of admitting they’ve been stupid for the last hundred years?

“Virtue and patriotism, vice and selfishness, are found in all parties, and they differ less in their motives, than in policies.” ~ Seward

/John

Defense Training International, Inc

About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor John Farnam will urge you, based on your own beliefs, to make up your mind in advance as to what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to make sure that their students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.

It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to the Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com

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DaveW

First, more UK police officers are trained and have access to arms once they have received approval from higher up. Surprisingly, police officer in the main, prefer not to have access, let alone carry on a regular basis. Meanwhile, robberies are increasingly committed using hand guns which are readily available throughout the EU. A percentage of the guns used in this manner are replicas. For the past decade, the number of people applying to become police officers has dwindled, even as crimes increase. Thus, the actual numbers of police officers available to deal with crimes is shrinking. The people of… Read more »

hippybiker

From my understanding of recent British history, they were fearful of Vetrans of the first world war being armed. Sound familiar? Ala Fineswine.

Patrick D. Sperry

New Zealand, and only a few years past Australia, were much more like the United States than Britain has ever been That said Britain has always been a mother may I place. What, over the years has surprised me to no end is why no backlash from Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland so to at a minimum restore The Rights of Englishmen if not some type of statehood. Or actual liberty from those that laird it over them..

N.R. Ringlee

Never trust a government that does not trust its citizens.

William Taylor

I was recently in New Zealand and had an occasion to stop into a local store. I spotted a counter where there was a display of ammunition and knowing of the ban on certain weapons, I asked about the ammunition. He told me that it was for the owners of rifles. Surprising to me. I showed him my concealed permit and he was surprised but then he commented about the USA’s freedom of owning a hand gun. Funny though, he did not want to discuss with me any further comments concerning hand guns and permits. I guess they are content… Read more »

Wild Bill

@WT, What the UK needs is a written Bill of Rights, to include firearms ownership and self defense. The UK also needs to jettison that so called royalty. But not my nation, I have no standing to complain.

tomcat

@Wild Bill I heard it said, the other day on tv, that the Royalty in the UK are the largest welfare recipients in the world. Funny but true.

Wild Bill

@Tcat, Or … the longest running theft ring that the world has ever known!

tomcat

@Wild Bill that’s good!

George Minga

This is how we is going to Winners will affect change. Lean to hurt these states, cities, and other municipalities where it hurts them and their pocketbook. These gun companies realize this. All the gun marches in the world are not going to stop these people. But we as 2A supporters need to do this the right way. So let’s get the word out, and do it right.