Why gun control has never got off the ground in New Zealand

Christchurch: One early summer evening back in 1990, in the town of Aramoana near Dunedin, David Gray fell into an argument with his neighbour, Gary Holden.

This prompted him to go inside and grab some guns - one a variant of the AK-47, the other a member of the M16 family. He murdered 13 people before police shot him.

Gun City owner David Tipple says alleged gunman Brenton Tarrant bought guns legally online.Credit: AP

In the debate over gun laws that followed that massacre the man who sold Gray the ammunition he used, David Tipple, the owner of the gun store Gun City, lobbied against gun law reform.

On Monday Tipple, who also sold guns and ammunition to the man who committed Friday’s atrocity, was at it again.

By now his gun store has grown to a chain and he claims to be the biggest gun retailer in the world. The weapons he sold to Tarrant were sold via his online operation.

This frame from video that was live-streamed shows guns in the car of a gunman before the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. Credit: AP

Facing criticism on Monday, Tipple fronted a press conference of local and foreign media with a message anyone who has followed the gun debate in the United States would know well.

“I totally agree there should be a gun debate, but today is not the day," he said.

"Please respect me on this – I'm going to leave [the press conference] if these are the only questions you have."

Tipple has long used the arguments of the US National Rifle Association in defending New Zealand’s lax gun laws.

Semi-automatic sporting rifles for sale in the US, a country whose gun debate has influenced New Zealand's.Credit: AP

"It's like being a car dealer, you know there are going to be deaths with cars. What do you sell that doesn't carry the risk of that?" Tipple told Stuff in 2015, after being asked about selling the ammunition later used in the Aramoana massacre.

"I don't see firearms as the villain ... I see the psychology as the villain."

According to police association president Chris Cahill, this message comes straight out of the NRA’s “guns don’t kill people, people do”. He says Tipple has had a difficult time over the years, not only for efforts to challenge gun law reform.

In 2002 he was jailed for almost two years in the US for attempting to move 29 hunting rifles and 340 rounds of ammunition through Los Angeles airport without the appropriate permits.

He has numerous driving convictions, including ones stemming from a 2008 high-speed chase that went on for 16 kilometres before his car was stopped by police with road spikes.

Asked why a man with such a record is allowed to deal guns, Cahill says with obvious frustration, “That’s a good question.”

He said efforts at significant gun law reform had been stymied by a small and effective gun lobby in New Zealand ever since Aramoana massacre.

After that attack tougher licensing laws were introduced, but last year 99.6 per cent of the 43,509 applications were successful.

Military style semi-automatic weapons remain on the market, though there are some prohibited features, such as flash suppressors. Cahill says this does not make a material difference - the weapons remain tools specifically designed for quickly killing lots of humans.

He is particularly frustrated that though it is illegal to attach high capacity magazines for these weapons, it is not illegal to sell or own such magazines. Tipple himself sells 30 and even 75-round drum magazines. He is also concerned that there are an estimated 1.5 million guns in New Zealand - with 50,000 more imported annually - but no register of guns.

“We have no idea where they are,” he said.

Gun rights activists in New Zealand have argued that police rather than gun laws are at fault for the easy access to guns for people determined to break the law.

“We will soon have a serious conversation about our gun laws. Many aspects of them are the best in the world. But the sad truth is that we have been repeatedly let down by the police management of these systems,” wrote Mike Loder, a competitive shooter and gun campaigner in the NZ Herald this week.

“This coming conversation will need to include removing management of the Arms Act from the police... We should let the police get on with police work...

“The tourist terrorism that broke our hearts this week must never be repeated.”

New Zealand Council of Licensed Firearms Owners secretary Nicole McKee told ABC radio there was a need for "a thorough investigation into what went wrong".

However, "to do a kneejerk legislative change without thinking of unintended consequences may not benefit the safety of New Zealanders," she said.

Authorities also needed to look at how Tarrant got his licence and the gun he actually used, she said.

"The firearms that he used to commit this heinous attack were actually illegal," he said. "He did not have the licence to hold those."

But most analysts believe the political argument is already over given that the both parties in the governing coalition have said they are determined to introduce reforms.

Many gun owners welcome such law changes too.

“Our hearts go out to the victims and family of this hateful attack. The vast majority of New Zealanders are pushing for change, and so, I believe, will be the vast majority of gun owners,” wrote an avid hunter anonymously on The Spinoff website this week.

Cahill agrees, though he believes Tipple and other hardliners will continue to battle change.

“He kept his stores open over the weekend after the massacre. What does that tell you about him?”