Rambo Hide storms gun show

Rodney Hide says he does not mind being seen with an AK-47, capable of firing 10 rounds a second.

The rippling biceps were hidden by a suit, and he wasn't wearing a headband, but Act leader Rodney Hide was in Rambo mode at an Auckland gun show.

A man, who did not wish to be named, contacted the Weekend Herald after encountering Mr Hide at the 16th Annual Gun Fair, held in Henderson, West Auckland, last weekend.

Pictures are forbidden at the gun show, but Mr Hide was more than happy to pose with the man's Vietnam War-era AK-47.

"He actually gave me his camera."

He said Mr Hide was also unconcerned at the prospect of publication of the photograph.

"I said, 'I am going to put this in the Herald', and he said, 'Go for it'."

The Chinese-built weapon is capable of firing 10 rounds a second. However, it is illegal to fire a fully automatic weapon in New Zealand, so the man uses it in semi-automatic mode - to shoot goats.

The gun, for which he paid $2500, also boasts a $5500 night-vision scope and 75-round drum magazine.

But the picture upset Peace Foundation member and gun control activist Marion Hancock.

"It is very disturbing to see a public figure show glee at the handling of a weapon when it is able to cause such damage."

She said a politician performing in such as way did nothing for those people trying to take the glamour away from guns and change the firearms laws.

But Mr Hide - who does not own a firearm or licence himself - was unrepentant, dismissing the comments as peacenik thinking.

"There's no doubt that the peaceniks and the Labour Party would like to ban gun shows ... That's their agenda."

Act was at the gun show, getting the message out, and Mr Hide said he was happy to support legitimate gun owners, who he says are "under threat in New Zealand, by hysteria".

Mrs Hancock said the gun-control lobby was trying to support the Thorp Report, the 1997 investigation by Justice Sir Thomas Thorp into firearms control.

Among that report's recommendations were a proposal to license both guns and their owners.