Gun owners feel targeted - hunters

Waipukurau Fishing and Shooting Outfitters Ltd owner Dave Hern says attitudes of gun owners have changed for the better.

Dave Hern has been in the hunting and fishing industry for about 40 years.

The owner of Waipukurau's Fishing and Shooting Outfitters Ltd has been involved with firearms even longer, and witnessed attitudes toward firearms - and their owners - change over that time.

"In the old days we could walk down the street with our firearm and into the shop [to] get it repaired, nobody batted an eyelid."

But, he says if he walked down the main street of town these days, "it wouldn't take long for someone to be ringing 111 to say there's a man walking down the street with a gun".
A Government Law and Order Committee has proposed tighter firearm controls to target gangs and knuckle down on illegal firearm possession.

Recommended changes to rules around ammunition, firearms storage, and dealers, like Mr Hern in Waipukurau, have left the firearms community feeling targeted.

"They're trying to fix something that hardly exists.

"When someone runs into a crowd of people with cars do we say 'oh let's lock up all the cars'? No we don't," Mr Hern says.

The report has been released mid-roar, while many hunters are out bush. They will return to the news that as owners of military-style semi-automatics they may be facing more restrictions.

But Labour MP for Napier, and a committee member, Stuart Nash, says people need to remember these are merely recommendations.

He says these are not laws, and "they are not precursors to laws".

"It's to keep the cowboys out of the game and I think you'll find that a lot of the legitimate gun owners will go, well you know, we are doing things by the rules, by the book, if this keeps the cowboys out of the game then that's got to be good for our business."

The report highlights the low percentage of crime involving firearms at just 1.4 per cent of all violent crime.

Mr Hern was involved in discussions around firearm legislation changes back in the 80s - he claims New Zealand currently has the best firearm legislation to date.

What they're proposing isn't going to make much difference to the criminal element at all."

The inquiry was conducted after the shooting of four police officers in Kawerau last year - and the confiscation of 14 military-style guns found in a ceiling.