Letters: Firearms owners should be licensed like drivers

A reader asks if it's too much to ask that gun owners be licensed just like drivers are. Photo / File

Marie Booth (Letters, November 5) hits the nail on the head with regards to the control of public safety through licensing and the law.

There is reason civilised society has learnt to use regulatory licensing to reduce the impact of activities that have the potential to create societal havoc before it happens.

Imagine if we (society) decided we did not need to license the use of motor vehicles and relied on the common sense and goodwill of responsible citizens to prevent havoc and mayhem?

Is it really a bridge too far to insist that firearms owners be licensed similar to drivers? This also brings to mind motorised scooters on footpaths.

Joseph Gielen
Glenholme

Partner status

We are told that the requirement that Immigration New Zealand has implemented, that couples claiming partner status live together for at least one year to prove the validity of the relationship, discriminates against Indians and arranged marriages.

I don't see how. All it requires is for the couple to live together for a least a year before the New Zealand resident spouse returns to NZ and applies for a visa for the partner.

We have not been told that there are more than 11,000 of these partner applications at INZ.

If returning to India and living there for a year after marriage is too inconvenient, there are plenty of single Indian women already living in NZ, why not marry one of them? NZ is a multi racial society, and inter racial marriages are common here. (Abridged)

Alan Dickson
Tauranga

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