WFSA Current News - December, 2004

December 24, 2004

New Zealand rejects gun registration
            The New Zealand Police Minister, George Hawkins, has stated that the new firearms bill soon to be released does not have a provision for gun registration.
            John Howat, representing the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, said the idea of registration is prohibitively expense. He agreed with the decision, and went on to say, "There's no evidence, anywhere in the world, that registration systems assist police in generally controlling firearms.”
            The New Zealand government has paid attention to the well-established fact that most crime is committed with guns that are outside any attempts at registration. It recognizes that the value to the community is not to be found in laborious attempts to record the serial numbers of the very guns unlikely to be used in crime.
            In his announcement, the Minister pointed out that the illegal transfer of guns in the Pacific region has caused international attention to be focused on customs and seizure potential. The proposed laws will allow New Zealand to sign the United Nations protocol on the control of trans-national organized crime. They will give increased powers to customs operatives.
            Resistance to the move has been mounted by the Justice spokesman for the Progressive Party, who is quoted as saying: "Without a firearms registration authority, without the proper registration of every gun in New Zealand , we leave ourselves very vulnerable." He does not give any suggestion as to how a registration system would in fact achieve this aim in reality as opposed to theory.
            New Zealand is expected to continue with its satisfactory system of licensing the owner rather than registering the firearm.
            The story is available at http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3138863a11,00.html .

December 20, 2004

Gun ownership in Republic of Ireland
           The Irish Times today ran an article expressing surprise at the fact that there are said to be 213,000 legally registered guns in Ireland. With a population of just under four million people, this would bring the legal gun ownership figure to about one gun for every nineteen people. The paper contacted the Department of Justice for this figure.
            Ireland being historically a very rural economy, this level of ownership, assuming the number to be correct, would in fact be exceptionally low on a world basis. It could well be multiplied by a factor of four or five, if other similar countries are any guide. Guns are part of the rural way of life and their role in crime is negligible.
            Michael Noonan of the Fine Gael party asked the Department of Justice and the gardaí   for information about trends of gun ownership over the last few years. He is quoted in the article as saying he was "very surprised" at these gun ownership figures in Ireland. The numbers, he said, seem "very high indeed".

December 15, 2004

Further tightening of Polish gun laws
            A very brief report from Poland today suggests that gun dealers will be required to take stronger measures to secure ammunition.
            There are already strict laws in place to govern the trade of both firearms and explosives.
            Buyers of guns are already heavily regulated in what they are allowed to do, but under the new procedures, there is an increase in requirements for information to be passed to the police by the dealers. There is also to be an increase in inspections to ensure the regulations are followed.

December 11, 2004

Fox hunting prosecution fails in Scotland
            The first prosecution under the new fox-hunting bans has taken place in Scotland, and resulted in an acquittal.
            Under the new laws, it is legal to flush foxes from cover with a view to shooting them. It is illegal to pursue them with dogs. The defendant, Trevor Adams, joint master of a large hunt, successfully argued in court that he operates a pest control service to local farmers, and people were present on the day to act in the shooting capacity.
            The same legislation is due to be enacted in England and Wales on February 19 next year. Over 250 hunts in England and Wales have said they will be meeting as usual on the Saturday after the ban comes into force, to hunt within the law. The rural affairs spokesman for the Conservatives said that the Protection of Wild Mammals Act of 2002 has been proved unenforceable.

December 2, 2004

South African gun amnesty
            The South African Business Day has run an article by Parliamentary Editor Wyndham Hartley disclosing the imminent release of details about the gun amnesty. Originally intended for implementation on October 1, the scheme was put back, and the idea referred to two parliamentary committees. It has now been approved, and the duration and starting date of it are to be announced.
            The remarkable thing about this amnesty was announced by Minister of Safety and Security, Charles Nqakula. It seems that all firearms surrendered under the amnesty are to be ballistically tested, and if they are found to be connected to a crime then the owner will be prosecuted.
            In a statement, the National Firearms Forum Chairman Alex Holmes said, "Criminals do not hand in the tools of their trade, and the only people who might possibly do so are those who are in breach of the law without criminal intent, such as a person who finds grandfather's rifle in the attic.
            "For this category of people it should be a permanent thing that they hand in unwanted inherited firearms without fear of punishment.”  
            An impartial observer might be forgiven for assuming nobody is now likely to hand in any firearms that might be connected with crime.

December 2, 2004

Italian disagreement about gun laws
            The website of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera has carried an article on November 28 describing a disagreement brewing in Italy about the possibility of changes to gun laws.
            The paper reports that it was the Minister for the Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, who about a year ago ordered both a review of existing gun laws and more stringent criteria for new licences.
            In contrast, Italy’s Northern League is calling for permit procedures to be relaxed. Along the same lines, the Minister for Justice, Roberto Castelli, has also gone on record arguing for a revamp of regulations concerning self-defence.
            Guiseppe Pisanu has indicated that he does not wish to change his position.

December 1, 2004

Palestinian approach to gun legislation
            A report from News.com has quoted the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Mahmud Abbas, as saying that the only people in the occupied territories allowed to carry arms should be security forces. The policy of the Palestinian Government is severely limit the number of firearms. 
            The Prime Minister, Ahmed Qurie, said this was not intended to have any bearing on dampening resistance activity. 
                http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11530891%255E1702,00.html

December 1, 2004

Shooting under further threat in the United Kingdom 
           The Western Daily Press has carried an article about rising animal activists’ interest in shooting. With a ban on foxhunting to hounds now fast approaching, the activists in the UK are declaring themselves more ready to turn their attention to the disruption of people lawfully taking game.
            The Labour Animal Welfare Society, whose vice-chairman is the Labour peeress Baroness Gale, is said on its website to exist in order to “Give support to the Labour Party on animal welfare issues”.  A recent posting was headed: “Hunting ban is good for animal welfare but dose (sic) not however mean the end of rural life”. It sets the running for a following posting: “Animal Aid has launched a new campaign calling for a ban on breeding pheasants for sport shooting – following the precedent of the Dutch Government.” In the usual style, the criticisms are not based on genuine conservation grounds, but rather on animal welfare considerations as perceived by special-interest groups.
            The article quotes both the BASC and the Countryside Alliance, defending the right of more than one million game shooters in Britain to shoot quarry birds to eat, drawing a contrast between birds so reared, and those produced intensively for the food markets. But the Countryside Alliance also deplored the way the shooting saboteurs are increasingly placing themselves in personal danger by standing in front of the shooters.