John,

For over five years, military-style semi-automatic weapons have been banned in New Zealand. Labour made the change with near-unanimous support following the tragic events of March 15.

Now, the Government is refusing to rule out reintroducing dangerous firearms, like the one used in that massacre.

They’ve said they will take another look at the ban, and the firearms registry. This is being led by gun lobbyist and ACT Party MP Nicole McKee.

The Cabinet, made up of mostly National Party MPs, has inexplicably agreed to switch the powers that allow changes to be made to some of our most important firearms laws – including how we define a prohibited weapon – over to her.

I'm incredibly concerned that the Government is delegating the power to change what is considered a prohibited firearm to a gun lobbyist, who has already made changes to gun regulations with no public consultation.

That is scary. Not only is she on record wanting to make some of the most dangerous guns more accessible again, but she campaigned on getting rid of the firearms registry which was set up to ensure agencies like police know who purchases guns.

The ban Labour put in place was to help protect people, and to ensure that something like March 15 would never happen again.

Help us tell the Government that reintroducing military-style semi-automatic firearms should not be up for debate.

We must prevent these guns from getting into the wrong hands.

Please sign and share our petition to show the Government that New Zealanders do not want the ban reversed. 

Thanks,
Ginny Andersen, Labour's Police Spokesperson 

P.S. I’m holding a public meeting in Auckland on Thursday 10 October to talk about how we can keep communities safe from these dangerous guns. I’ll be in touch with more updates soon.