Key nixes Act's push to arm shopkeepers as 'recipe for disaster'

An Act Party policy that would allow shopkeepers to arm themselves against violent robberies is a "recipe for disaster", the Prime Minister says.

Announcing Act's law and order policy yesterday, party leader Jamie Whyte said shopkeepers, especially those in Auckland, were subject to increasingly violent robberies.

"Criminals are well aware that shopkeepers are defenceless and are taking advantage of this in brutal robberies. What Act proposes here should reassure the shopkeepers of New Zealand," he said. "Act says it will not be illegal for a shopkeeper to keep a weapon in their own shop."

The possibility that a shopkeeper was armed would deter would-be offenders, Dr Whyte said.

The party would also strengthen laws relating to self-defence and introduce a dedicated home invasion law.

Dr Whyte said he had no view on what weapons shopkeepers should arm themselves with but believed firearms were appropriate, "if they felt that there was sufficient threat".

The idea was dismissed by Prime Minister John Key yesterday. "Firstly you'd be putting weapons in the hands of people that are not trained.

"Those weapons could be used [against] the very shopkeepers themselves. It's a recipe for disaster."

Association of Convenience Stores chairman Roger Bull said it did not support shopkeepers arming themselves. "Our policy has always been if there's a robbery, you comply with the instructions of the person and you do not try to do anything quick or sudden because you don't know the mental state [of the offender]."

According to the Crimes Act, "everyone is justified in using, in the defence of himself or herself or another, such force as, in the circumstances as he or she believes them to be, it is reasonable to use".

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said introducing "stand your ground-type laws" would benefit criminals more than law-abiding citizens.

Labour leader David Cunliffe said the "extreme Tea Party-type policy" had no place in New Zealand society. "We don't want vigilantes, we want a police force we can rely on."

Auckland barrister Gary Gotlieb said current self-defence legislation was sufficient.