Police corner man with gun

Police search the Porsche after a pursuit over the Harbour Bridge. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A Porsche driver sparked a police pursuit across Auckland's Harbour Bridge yesterday after he was alleged to have waved a hand gun at another motorist.

More than half a dozen police patrol cars chased the Porsche, which was pulled over and surrounded by officers near the Onewa Rd off-ramp. The weapon was discovered to be an air gun.

The car, which is registered to a South Auckland businessman, was left at the side of the road while the driver was taken away by police.

Spoken to later by the Herald on Sunday, the driver claimed he had not pointed the pistol at a motorist. He said he was transporting it with a collection of martial arts weapons.

Police confiscated the lot and cautioned the driver about carrying weapons in his car.

Last night, a 46-year-old man was charged with presenting a firearm, which has a maximum term of three months in jail or a $1000 fine, possession of cannabis and possessing offensive weapons. He is to appear in North Shore District Court next week.

Kevin Loughlin from Waitemata Police said the police regarded the case very seriously. "Police were unarmed at the time but if they were [armed] it could have ended very differently," he said.

Police national headquarters superintendent Tony McLeod said he was concerned about the number of police call-outs over "people with small brains" carrying around air pistols.

He said police had to respond as if they were real guns as they had no way of knowing if they were replicas.

"I'm amazed no one has been shot in the last five years. People with [replica] hand guns should be thankful the New Zealand Police are so professional in responding to these situations."

McLeod said the police had sent an arms amendment bill to Parliament that would give politicians the opportunity to solve the issue.

Judy Ju, from the Airsoft Centre in Parnell, sells low-powered air guns including realistic-looking semi-automatic rifles, hand guns, sniper rifles and even a grenade that shoots out 72 pellets. Ju believed the law should only be changed to require more education for the buyers of weapons.

Her store gave out pamphlets warning people not to wave the weapons about, she said.

"They should be treated like a real weapon. This is about changing attitudes about how people treat them."

Ju said a law change that limited the sale of the weapons would not work. "I think even if the gun looks real or not if people want them to look real they will adjust them."

She said another issue was the number of unlicensed air gun vendors. "If they are not registered they don't care about informing people on the right way to treat them."

Labour law and order spokesman Clayton Cosgrove said Parliament should discuss regulating the sale of look-alike guns.

Police Minister Judith Collins was unavailable for comment.