Hipkins Chris: Arms (Military Style Semi-Automatic Firearms and Import Controls) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Arms (Military Style Semi-Automatic Firearms and Import Controls) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 11 May 2011. Volume:672;Page:18619. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I am very happy to take a call on the Arms (Military Style Semi-automatic Firearms and Import Controls) Amendment Bill.  
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Full of blanks! 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Thank you. I come to this debate not being particularly familiar with firearms myself. I am not a large fan of firearms. However I do think there is a place in this country for responsible firearms ownership. I know that a number of people in my electorate own firearms. In fact we have two rifle ranges in the electorate not including the army’s firearms range. Just recently we have also had a deer-shooting park in my electorate. I have to say the deer-shooting park in my electorate has been quite controversial because it is relatively near a domestic area. It is in a semi-rural area and of course the people who live in houses nearby are not particularly keen on the idea of having a deer-shooting park anywhere near them and I can kind of understand that actually. There are health and safety issues for the farmer next door there are all sorts of considerations so it is always a topic of discussion amongst the people in my electorate.  
On the surface of it this bill seems like a sensible thing to do. I believe from the information provided by the Minister of Police that the police estimate that there could be up to one incident a week where a member of the public presents an airgun that looks like a real pistol. That is a significant issue for the police and therefore I can fully understand why tighter controls are required particularly on the import of these weapons and it is one of the reasons why Labour members will support this bill’s referral to a select committee. As my colleague Rick Barker said it is important that when the bill gets to the select committee the committee takes some time to find out what it is all about get into the specifics of it work out the different types of firearms and make itself a lot more familiar with the issue. I am not on that particular select committee but I think it is definitely something the committee should take a look at.  
I understand that this bill basically reverts us to the classification regime that existed between 1992 and 2008. A recent court case has cast some doubt on it and therefore it needs to be reviewed. So I think it is very sensible that this legislation is introduced. However it is rather unfortunate that overall the Government’s approach to justice issues has been very piecemeal and this is another example of that. The public of New Zealand would like to know from this Government what its overall approach is what its overall priorities are to make New Zealand a safer place. We are not hearing much about that from the Government. Firearms are a really important part of the equation but they need to fit within a much wider agenda and a much wider programme of making New Zealand a safer place.  
New Zealand by and large with regard to firearms is a much much safer place than many other places around the world. I like the fact that we can still walk down the street in New Zealand and see police wandering down the street who are not bulked up with firearms and all the protective clothing and so on that we see in other places around the world. Our police are very accessible and one of the reasons for that is that the per capita rate of firearms in New Zealand is I am willing to guess fairly low by international standards. I would not like to see us changing the law in any way that made it more likely for people to own firearms.  
I repeat that I do not have a problem with responsible firearms ownership in New Zealand and I think the vast bulk of New Zealanders who own firearms are very very responsible. My father is one of those. As kids when we were growing up we used to go up to the bach over the Christmas holidays and my father would go out rabbit shooting and bring rabbits back. This was before all the different things that afflict rabbits nowadays. We would then cook them all up and have them for dinner. We do not do that quite so much these days because we never quite know what is in the rabbit.  
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Can you clarify that? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: What diseases the rabbit might have. Occasionally my father would take my brother and me out shooting with him. He never managed to hit many when we were with him because we would always scare them away before he had a chance to take aim. He would always come back with a much bigger haul when we were left back at the bach and he was allowed to do his hunting in peace and quiet.  
Hon Pete Hodgson 
: Were you trying to save them or were you just lippy? 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: It could be that we were trying to save the rabbits because if he shot all the rabbits where would Easter eggs come from? It is a very real issue. I always find it ironic that there is a massive rabbit shoot at Easter. It must destroy Easter for so many kids around New Zealand to see all those pictures on the news of rabbits stacked up on trailers—the Easter bunny being slaughtered at Easter time.  
Anyway I come back to the topic of this bill which is the importation of air rifles and so on that look like real firearms. At the moment there are virtually no import controls on them. We are told that these air rifles are frequently being used in criminal offending and therefore a change in the law is required. If that is the case then that is something Parliament should look at. Tightening the controls will help to reduce the easy availability of these replica firearms and that is a very good thing. The 2010 court case  
Lincoln v New Zealand Police 
 was the case that created the uncertainty as to whether some semi-automatic firearms were MSSAs. MSSA stands for military-style semi-automatic firearms. It is important that there is clarity as to what is covered under that. There is not that clarity at the moment and this legislation will create that certainty.  
I am looking forward to hearing more about this issue once the bill comes back from the select committee. I am sure the members of the committee will have looked diligently at this legislation. I am not sure which select committee the Government is referring it to.  
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: Law and Order. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: The Law and Order Committee. 
Hon Member 
: The all-powerful Law and Order Committee. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Well I would say that the odds of it getting a fair hearing at the all-powerful Law and Order Committee have increased dramatically in recent months with the change of personnel on the Law and Order Committee particularly the chairmanship which I understand has improved dramatically. 
Sandra Goudie 
: They haven’t had any meetings. You have to have a meeting to find out. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: Sandra Goudie says they have not had any meetings. Unfortunately the only downside is that we have to have her on the Government Administration Committee instead—the all-powerful Government Administration Committee I will have members know. Jacqui Dean the new chair of the Law and Order Committee has been a member of the Government Administration Committee and I think she will do a pretty good job of making sure this legislation is well scrutinised. 
Hon Clayton Cosgrove 
: The bar is not that high. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: The bar has been raised significantly. It was not very high to begin with but I think the committee will give this bill a fairly good going-over and good consideration.  
Ultimately firearms laws in New Zealand are important for all New Zealand citizens. They want to know they live in a safe environment where firearms are not abused and misused and are kept safe. Responsible firearms owners want to know that they will still be able to do what they have always done. As a result I imagine that the select committee will be very careful in its deliberations to make sure that Parliament does not end up curtailing the rights of responsible firearms owners but does make sure the public of New Zealand are kept safe. We need to ensure that the police do not have to spend a lot of time and put themselves at risk when dealing with replica firearms as they may be doing at the moment. Overall Labour will be supporting the bill’s referral to the Law and Order Committee. We look forward to hearing the submissions and I look forward to seeing the bill reported back to the House in due course.