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Chairman's annual report | |
         Copyright 1996-2002, Council of Licensed Firearms Owners.
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Chairman's annual report to COLFO's
annual general meeting on 13 March 2004. On behalf of the Board I have considerable pleasure in reporting our achievements for the year ending 31st December 2003. I note that COLFO has now been in existence for 7½ years. Most of our income is realised from those firearms related organisations that formed COLFO and remain as active members, but much also comes from a number of New Zealanders who are individual members. Persons who recognise that without unity and leadership all firearm sports will be put at risk. A special thanks is extended to the members and management of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association, the New Zealand Pistol Association, the New Zealand Antique Arms Association, the New Zealand National Rifle Association, New Zealand Service Rifle Association, International Military Arms, members of the COLFO 100 Club, trade, club, and corporate members, and those individuals who have contributed financially to protecting our sport, recreation and hobby during the past year. Those committed members and benefactors have carried the burden for all of New Zealand’s sport shooters. The annual cost for ordinary members of COLFO member associations is a portion of one packet of ammunition. A very small insurance to pay for the services that COLFO provides. Amongst our members we have a number of firearms related clubs and an
increasing number of trade affiliates. This year I want to welcome a new
member to COLFO. The New Zealand Paintball Players Association (NZPPA) who
recognise that although their use of firearms is not the same as that of
most of our members, we must stand together against iniquitous laws or we
shall all lose the rights and privileges we currently enjoy. Members of the Board continued to visit the Beehive and meet with politicians from most political parties. This continued dialog is also carried by ‘phone and email, and it is vital as it allows MPs and their advisers to see that we are responsible and ordinary New Zealanders from every walk of life. It makes it difficult for anti-gunsport campaigners to demonise us and communication with politicians is a core part of our business. We have a meeting with a National MP scheduled for this Wednesday. Notable events in 2003: The Pacific Shooting Sports Forum Early in 2003 the anti-gunsport campaigners extended their crusade firmly into the South Pacific arena. The prime mover in this appears to be international activist Philip Alpers - who currently claims to be a senior fellow at the Harvard Injury Control Research Centre. Phillip Alpers authored a document entitled “Small Arms in the Pacific.” He was assisted by Connor Twyford, who is identified on a NZ Government website as being a former ministerial secretary to New Zealand's Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control. The pair received a grant of $40,000 from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and a similar grant from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs. The funding that was not used for promotion and publicity purposes was channelled towards Connor Twyford for ‘research’ that we believe could have been undertaken via internet or phone. It seems that the intent of this ‘research’ was to harden the South Pacific Forum’s attitude to firearm laws and hasten the introduction of ‘uniform gun laws’ throughout the South Pacific. COLFO was made aware of this through our affiliation to the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities (WFSA) and our association with their member for Australia (Sporting Shooters Association Australia - SSAA). The SSAA suggested that we meet with them to discuss this development and they generously brought their National Council to Auckland to facilitate the meeting. That meeting resulted in the formation of the Pacific Shooting Sports Forum (PSSF) which is currently going through the process of incorporation. It is the intention of the PSSF to seek representation to the South Pacific Forum and become a NGO advisor on all matters that affect Pacific firearm sport. The Board believes that this is crucial to our core business, which is protecting the rights and privileges of New Zealand’s responsible firearms’ community. If we permit the anti-gunsport associations to influence the collective governments of the South Pacific region the New Zealand Government could become locked into a regional agreement that requires them to adopt restrictive and unworkable gun laws. New Zealand is unique and the laws that work here, with our abundance of space and game, are unlikely to fit the requirements of crowded Islands found elsewhere. We believe that we can advise Pacific nations how to create effective gun law, and encourage responsible firearms ownership in the Pacific. The Clean Slate Bill Another notable event in which we were involved in 2003 was one that few would notice. It was campaigning against a provision in the “Clean Slate” Bill, a Bill that if passed into law would allow individuals to ‘hide’ minor convictions that were earned over 7 years previously. Had the Bill become law as reported back from the Select Committee on July 25th 2003 it would have allowed persons applying for firearms licenses to hide such convictions. COLFO believes that individuals should not be permitted to hide convictions but that they should be disclosed so that Police can consider them when judging applications for firearm licenses and endorsements. We believed that this was a responsible attitude and were surprised that the anti-gunsport organisations did not pick up on it. A Supplementary Order Paper (SOP No 172) was released on February 16th 2004 and this prevents persons from concealing criminal convictions when making an application of any kind under the Arms Act 1983. An almost unnoticed but very significant victory for common sense and an indication that the Government is prepared to listen to reasoned argument and concerns. Other notable events in 2003 With the retirement of Margaret Brown there came a need to reinvent the position of Treasurer and tie our operating systems together. This was a more complicated exercise than initially envisaged. The Board appointed Andre as Treasurer and employed Adrianne to work in accounts and records. Many goals have been achieved but there is still a way to go. The purchase of new accounting software has helped Adrianne create an accounting system that will be more easily transferable from appointment to appointment. The new system will result in a more modern database with communication and financial capabilities. This position will continue to receive a monthly remuneration funded from COLFO's operating budget. Meeting with NZSF On Tuesday 10th June I attended a meeting of the exec of the NZ National Shooting Federation (NZSF) in Wellington. The purpose of that meeting was to talk to the Presidents of the affiliates whom I believed would be present. I wanted to bring them all up to date in regards to:
Although some of the association presidents were not there I believed that the meeting was beneficial although it was disappointing to learn that the NZSF were planning a restructure during which they planned to create a “firearms lobby group”. There was a suggestion that COLFO join the Federation. I explained that this was not practical and, because the Federation was a beneficiary of Government funding their ability to lobby in general and to target separate political parties would be greatly compromised. Experience illustrates that the “COLFO Model” of dealing with firearms laws and lobbying does work – and it has now been copied by several other organisations. Meeting with MFAT We met with MFAT Disarmament Division in December (we are invited to their occasional briefings on matters that may effect us) and had frank discussions with their representatives. They have since forwarded us a copy of the proposed South Pacific “Weapons Control Bill” – a document based on the very restrictive Australian model. We understand that Mr Alpers has been involved in the creation of this document. Meetings with police We met with Police representatives in Wellington on two occasions. These meetings were used as consultations on proposed changes to the Arms Act. We also introduced significant members of the SSAA to the staff of the Police Firearms Licensing and Vetting unit as well as with the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council. Visit by an eminent person We had scheduled a visit to New Zealand by an eminent scholar with extensive knowledge in the matter of firearms’ registration. This visit has been postponed on two occasions, as it is important that the visit coincides with either the announcement of the new Arms Bill, or during the Select Committee hearings. The visit is tentatively scheduled for April/May 2004 but will likely be postponed again. Consideration of lifetime licence With a new Arms Bill on the Government agenda the COLFO Board considered presenting a submission for reinstating the ‘lifetime firearms license’. After very considerable debate on the subject the Board decided that we would not make a submission for the reinstatement of the ‘lifetime license.’ The compelling reasons being that people and circumstances both change and it was better for all licenseholders if the police were required to consider that individual licenseholders remained ‘fit and proper’ once every ten years. We also noted that very few (if any) applicants for renewal were refused. This is principally because of two reasons (a) “unsuitable” licenseholders had already had their licenses cancelled and (b) recognising their own “unsuitability” a number of licenseholders simply did not reapply for licenses. Communications Only one newsletter was written this year. Most would agree that was insufficient however there has been little of significance to report. The magazines New Zealand Guns and Hunting and New Zealand Outdoors carried significant articles relating to the creation of the PSSF, and other items referring to COLFO. In December we supplied a 1,600-word article for the New Zealand Fish and Game magazine and an article was supplied to the NZDA Wildlife magazine. Frequent COLFO news items appeared in most of our member’s magazines and we sent an update paragraph to all retail firearms dealers on 11 occasions. A lot of time was put into the brochure/flyer “Guns, Laws and Politics” to bring this to final draft form but a decision was made not to proceed. A start has been made on a four-colour brochure featuring the ordinary activities of our member associations, explaining whom we are, what we do, and how to join. A glance through my own COLFO/gun control communications shows that during 2003 I received (at home) some 9,050 firearms law related emails and sent out 1,409. As well as that I generated 153 documents in Word (letters, articles, papers etc) and several in Publisher. I also received and handled several hundred COLFO related communications at my work. I believe that the Board handled in excess of 15,000 separate communications during the past year. During the year we cancelled our wired phone and purchased a prepaid mobile that remains with the Secretary. This was done as a cost saving matter and has not compromised our ability to communicate. Gun laws 2003 was another year of waiting for the introduction of a new Arms Bill. The Minister has now assured us that the Arms Amendment Bill No 2 will be withdrawn from Parliament and replaced by the Arms Amendment Bill No 3. It appears that this will be a carefully considered Bill and an announcement is due at any time. The most up to date information suggests an announcement will be made in early May. Bob Badland Bob has been involved in gun law and safety matters for over 20 years and his imminent retirement from the NZMSC will leave a hole that will be nigh impossible to fill. Bob has had a huge influence on the relationships between responsible firearms owners and the police and we will all miss him. The next year The Board believes that the following should be completed during the year:
Finances COLFO members have now created a financial backstop that properly managed should see us through almost any possible adversity. That insurance has been created by our financial members and through the frugality of the Board. It must not be frittered away and we must continue to use income to meet operating expenses. An expansion of members would mean that the financial cost is carried on a larger number of shoulders and the annual per capita fee would remain less than a packet of .22cartridges. I urge all current members to actively seek new members, individuals, clubs and associations. Only strength and unity will enable us to foil the campaigns of those who would destroy our sport and hobbies. They will not go away so we must be united and forever vigilant. John Howat |