Gun ownership crosses political divide

The Napier siege has brought guns back into the spotlight and increased calls for stricter controls on ownership.

New Zealand has about 225,000 licensed firearm owners.

Gun ownership crosses the political divides in Parliament, with Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons and hardline Act MP David Garrett both no strangers to using a rifle.

Guns are owned by mainly rural-living MPs, a brief Herald survey has found.

Ms Fitzsimons said her husband Harry Parke had a licence for the "farm gun" they used on their Coromandel property.

She said it was used to kill animals humanely, and to control wild goats, possums and rabbits.

She had used it herself but only under Mr Parke's supervision.

"I've used it to put down a sick animal, many, many years ago.

"I have also shot a possum caught in a cage trap because I think it is more humane than drowning them."

She could not recall the exact calibre but said it was "the next one up from a .22".

Ms Fitzsimons said the animal she killed was an elderly sheep.

"That's what farming is about. When animals get seriously ill the most humane thing to do is put them down, and I am prepared to do that as a farmer."

She saw no reason for people to own semi-automatic and military-style weapons designed to kill people.

"I don't think there's any case for people to own handguns or AK47s.

"If that was the law every time one turned up it would be illegal and we would know what to do about it."

Mr Garrett has two shotguns and a .22, which he uses for rabbits, possums and duck shooting on his Helensville lifestyle block.

He has had his licence for more than 20 years, although it lapsed while he lived in Tonga. He said he was very impressed by the stringent licensing process he went through when he renewed it on his return.

He believed it was a mistake to abandon registering weapons, rather than just owners but said the horse had bolted.

"It doesn't matter what the laws are, it doesn't stop guys like [Napier gunman Jan] Molenaar."

Labour leader Phil Goff owns a .22 for possum shooting on his Clevedon lifestyle block, and some higher-calibre rifles from when he used to hunt large animals.

National MP Chester Borrows owns two rifles, a .22 and .303.

National whip Nathan Guy, who has a firearms licence and uses a rifle for rabbit control, said he asked a group of about 20 of the party's MPs if they owned firearms and was surprised to find almost all did not.

Of the three or four that did, "two or three ... said they were slug guns".