NZ Firearms Licence Application Is DISCRIMINATORY:

 The current firearms application form introduced by NZ Police following the Christchurch Mosque Massacres discriminates in several areas ..

A/- For a start - any person applying for a F.Licence who has ever previously held a New Zealand licence (since expired) is required to pay an application fee that is just short of TWICE the cost ($241.50 rather than $126.50) of those being fresh applicants.

B/- The Application form is a 35 page document that discriminates against the four out of five (- 4/5), New Zealanders who are not operating at "a highly effective level of literacy" - who do less well at Document & quantitative literacy - AND it discriminates particularly against "the majority of Maori & Pacific Islands people and those from other minority ethnic groups who function beneath the level of competency to effectively meet the demands of everyday life."

- Please refer to the findings of the latest international ADULT LITERACY SURVEY .. link:  

https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/literacy/5731

- The police  35 Page Application Form is just the START of the process - following full payment of the (non-refundable) applicable Application fee .. as various further supporting documents and images must be included or scanned for attachment to the on-line version of the application form.

No doubt there will be some current sporting shooters who remain unaware of what will be required of them before their current license expires .. they may also  not know that there are delays to the processing of Firearms Licence Applications that are considerably greater than 12 months and that when a license expires the firearms owner will be required to surrender their property to a current holder and cease all unsupervised shooting activity.

When might we expect - or hope - that our NZ Shooting Organizations will take remedial action against the many unreasonable impositions of NZ Police? .. perhaps the office holders of these societies are themselves struggling to read and comprehend the discriminatory and restrictive nature of this police generated assault on New Zealander's Civil Rights.

It is noteworthy that the application form for consideration to become a New Zealand Police Constable is only ONE PAGE. -  And that armed police are not required to have a Firearms License.

Marty K.