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An illegal AK-47 and submachine gun recently seized by police and linked to the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine. Photo: NZ POLICE

With the long-overdue Firearms Prohibition Order (FPO) legislation finally before a select committee, the Police Association is taking the opportunity to raise key concerns.

While the association welcomes the bill, which was recommended by the 2017 Law and Order Select Committee Inquiry into Illegal Firearms, it says it is unlikely to be a game changer because it omits two significant aspects.

One is a lack of wide-ranging warrantless search powers, such as those provided for in the Australian legislation on which the bill is based.

Although the association accepts there may be reluctance among New Zealand lawmakers to replicate the sweeping search powers used in Australian jurisdictions, it has asked the committee to consider a compromise: legislate the power for police to stop and search the subject of an FPO while in a public place without having to demonstrate reasonable grounds to suspect the presence of a firearm.

The association argues that police in New Zealand need the ability to conduct warrantless searches to enable them to more easily disrupt dangerous people who will be the subject of FPOs.

The other important omission in the proposed legislation is that breaching a family violence protection order has not been categorised as a qualifying “previous offence” for an FPO to be issued.

In fact, the bill makes no specific mention of family violence offending in relation to a qualifying offence for an FPO. This seems an oversight when guns and family violence are such a lethal combination and family harm is rife throughout the country.

The association says including the breach of a protection order as a qualifier keeps the law in front of escalating violent behaviour against people at risk, rather than acting after the fact.

It is urging the committee to re-examine why breaches of a protection order do not meet the FPO threshold.

Also of note in the proposed bill is that there is no specific mention of gangs. In the New Zealand context, the need and value of FPOs always includes reference to the increasing number of gangs and gang members, their illegal access to and use of firearms and their risk to the public and our members.

The association accepts that the legislation is about more than organised crime groups, but believes it will be difficult to capture gang members within the law’s ambit if it must rely solely on the existing Crimes Act.

Overall, however, the association’s submission to the select committee is supportive of the legislation.