Nash StuartARMS LEGISLATION BILLFirst ReadingHon STUART NASH (Minister of Police): I move That the Arms Legislation Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Finance and Expenditure Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 10 February 2020.There are tragedies or crimes or losses in our communities that have shaped all of us in this Parliament in our own way. Some have motivated us to come to this place in order to make change; to make our society a better place. We have heard some of these personal stories this year during the debate on the abortion law reform and the End of Life Choice Bill but there are tragedies or crimes or losses that occur far from our personal circles. They have taken no one who was close to us; nevertheless they have marked us. They haunt us. They haunt us as MPs because we know when we leave this place we are going to be asked to identify the high points the low points the regrets.Gun crime and the terror attack on 15 March in particular haunt every one of us in this debating chamber. There is no better illustration of this to be found than in the words of former police Minister John Banks. In March some 25 years after he ceased to be the Minister of Police an act of terror took the lives of 51 Kiwi worshippers; another 40 were injured by gunshots. When the former Minister heard of the shootings at the mosques a terrible image came back to him. He was instantly at Aramoana in 1990 walking amongst the dead: the 13 men women and children who lost their lives in another mass shooting. He told a reporter Since Christchurch I haven't been able to get out of my mind a small boy aged about eight … lying dead on the ground with his eyes wide open and a look of fear I've never forgotten. That young boy has haunted me these last couple of weeks … [This is] the greatest disappointment of my political life … not having the numbers … to rid this country of these killing machines."In April almost this entire Parliament came together to change that. The former Minister said the prohibition on assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics will act as a tribute to that small dead boy he has not been able to forget. I do not want to be that Minister in 20 years' time expressing my regrets yet again that back in 2019 the gun lobby won out over the safety of our communities. I refuse to let this happen and so should all of us.I don't know who that little boy was who haunts my predecessor. Two six-year-old boys were killed at Aramoana called Leo and Dion. Also killed in Aramoana was a police officer Stu Guthrie. I stand here today to say to all police officers: we have your back. This bill will make a difference to every front-line officer. They turn up at some call-outs with no knowledge of what they are walking into. Every month police turn up to some 200 incidents where a firearm is involved. Every year between 800 and 1000 firearms are reported stolen—they disappear into the black market and many into the hands of gangs. Around 11 percent of firearms offences are committed by gang members.Police intelligence indicates that most illegally held firearms are stolen from legitimate owners through poor storage practices. We owe it to the police who tirelessly work day in day out so we can sleep soundly at night. We owe it to the victims and the survivors of the mosque terror attacks to make these changes. We owe it to members of our community such as victims of family harm or aggravated robberies to tighten our gun laws.In April we acted to take the most dangerous weapons out of circulation by prohibiting assault rifles and military-style semi-automatics. Now we are moving to stop other firearms from falling into the wrong hands.The terror attacks at the mosques are not the first mass shooting this country has endured. Successive Governments have known since the Thorp review of 1997 that our gun laws were too weak. The terror attack on 15 March highlighted the flaws in our licensing system. Our gun laws date from 1983 and are dangerously out of date. Since 1983 the firearms manufacturing industry and the ability to buy and sell online has markedly changed the firearms environment. The changes announced today have been decades in the making. It is now up to this Parliament to deliver in the interests of public and personal safety.Under the current law we do not know how many guns are in circulation who owns them who is selling them who is buying them or how securely they are stored against the risk of theft or misuse. There are more than 260 shooting clubs and ranges which operate without any system of licensing. Police have very few options for intervening when they see concerning behaviour. Revoking a firearms licence can only happen for the most serious cases and can take weeks during which time the guns can be given away or disappear without a trace. The administration of the system is also very outdated. There are higher penalties for unlawfully taking or selling fish than for many firearms offences. We need to modernise the system.One of the biggest challenges facing police and public safety is the lack of information on what firearms are in New Zealand where they are and who is responsible for them. This bill lays the foundations for the development of a register to store information on all firearms and other items controlled by the Arms Act. The register will require and enable individuals and dealers to record every sale and transfer of a firearm and will be able to be programmed to alert when the number of firearms held may exceed the capacity of the secure storage.There are many benefits of introducing a register—for example it helps licence holders meet the obligations that the Act places on them to only sell firearms to other licence holders. Within two years we can start to track and trace all licence holders and their firearms as all firearms will be required to be uniquely marked and recorded in the register. This will also provide our fantastic police staff with the information that they need to effectively undertake some of their most dangerous tasks.Owning a gun is a privilege not a right. The proposed changes will spell out the duties and obligations for public safety that come with this privilege. The vast majority of our gun owners are law-abiding and responsible. The law changes will reinforce the positive behaviour that is required of all gun owners. The current response to the buy-back and amnesty shows how everyone can play a part to make our communities safer.It is still early days but good progress is being made. As of last night more than 15000 New Zealanders have turned up to more than 217 collection events. More than 24000 firearms and 89000 parts such as high-capacity magazines have been handed in. Compensation payments worth around $46 million have been processed. Firearms owners have spoken to media and police at these community collection events to share their views on the process. At the first event in Christchurch a recreational hunter handed in his Ruger because he said—and I quote—"It's the right thing to do … we all need to play a part in making society a little bit safer. We give up something but we make each other safer."In the gun-owning community there is a change of mind-set around firearms because the wider community agrees that it is the right thing to do to make each other safer. The terror attack on 15 March caused us to rethink many things and that included our gun laws. This bill updates a number of offences and penalties in the Act to make them more fit for purpose and proportionate to the seriousness of the offending—an example of this is increasing the maximum penalty for possessing a firearm without a licence from the current $1000 and/or three months' imprisonment to a maximum penalty of $15000 or one-year imprisonment. In a summary of his 1997 Review of Firearms Control in New Zealand Justice Thomas Thorp said—and I quote—"it is clear that there is a need for a totally new approach to firearms control." But 22 years after the Thorp report that broken firearms law remains on Parliament statute books. In the last 15 years over 170 people have had their lives cut short by gun violence and many more families have been devastated by suicide which involved a firearm. This House will be haunted by the memory of these tragedies crimes and losses if we fail to act now. Thank you. I commend the bill to the House."