Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Good work on registry
It is a relief to see that the coalition Government has strengthened the Firearms Registry by requiring firearms owners to disclose details of ammunition within 30 days of purchase, effective from June 24, 2025.
Hopefully, this will help uncover 3D-printed firearms which currently bypass the Firearms Registry.
I commend the Police Minister’s commitment to public safety, in spite of attempts by former gun lobbyist Nicole McKee to dismantle the Firearms Registry following the terrorist attack in 2019 in Christchurch, which killed 51 people.
New Zealand is leading the way: I note that the Australian Government intends to implement its own national firearms registry by 2027.
Pauline Doyle, Napier.
A new non-aligned movement?
The article by Nicholas Koo and Reuben Steff on New Zealand security, claiming we need “clear-eyed and vigorous discussions on foreign and security policy”, must be agreed with. And logically, New Zealand should consider an alliance with China as the United States disintegrates as a world power and we trade so much with China.
However, the article failed to mention several key issues. First, we could adopt a non-aligned foreign policy that would allow us the freedom of choice to speak out against all injustices so obvious at this time! Second, we have a hard-fought-for law banning nuclear weapons from our waters and we don’t need their protection, thank you. Third, we could work with other countries and the United Nations to remove the power of veto in the United Nations Security Council, and that would be the most effective way to ensure global security, not just for ourselves, but for all nations!
We need bold leadership in these times. Perhaps we could spend the $12 billion allocated to defence on a peacekeeping force to help the UN, which is failing in that role so badly.
Dennis Worley, Birkenhead.
Children going hungry
TV One news on Tuesday night showed the horrific effects of starvation on the most vulnerable in Gaza, the children and babies.
The starvation that children are dying from is not because there’s no food available. It’s because the food that is available, sitting in trucks at the gates of Gaza, is being withheld from them by Israel.
What mother in New Zealand cannot help but identify with mothers in Gaza? What more do our politicians need to see before our Government speaks out?
Sister Barbara Cameron, Hamilton East.
New tech reality
Being born in the Stone Age of social media meant listening in to other people’s conversations on your phone party line.
Now there appear to be so many apps one can access regardless of the validity of their contents. There is not the slightest doubt that many of these platforms are traps, not only for the young but also for those who are not fully conversant with our current technology.
The modern youth will not take kindly to any ban and, as in my day, anything that was a no-no will be strongly sought.
It would seem that the biggest headache will be trying to ratify whether the user is an approved user or not. Good luck is all one can say.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Trump’s refugee policy
While Trump is deporting thousands of black, Latino and coloured immigrants, he is at the same time signalling to the black and Latino voters he courted in the election that he thinks white lives matter way more.
Those of us who supported the end of discrimination, victimisation and racism that marked the apartheid era in South Africa, should note that Trump is resettling people from South Africa’s Afrikaner community as refugees, saying they were “victims of unjust racial discrimination”.
With this Trump action, “Make America Great Again” takes on a whole new sinister meaning.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.
Rhyme and reason
A boost for maths - well that’s a plus;
It’s time they took some notice of us;
But negative comments could well divide
Preventing the effects being multiplied;
Because in sum the Government takes away;
By not solving the roots of women’s pay.
David Hopkins, Remuera.
