Chris Cahill, president of the New Zealand Police Association, says Nicole McKee, the Associate Minister responsible for firearms reform, should be stripped of her responsibility because she “refuses” to consult with his association.
“The association has been deliberately excluded as a voice in the review of crucial aspects of firearms reform legislation,” Cahill wrote in an open letter to New Zealand’s prime minister.[i]
McKee slapped down Cahill’s blatant misinformation with the truth.
“Mr. Cahill complains the Police Association is being left out of consultation in relation to a review of the firearms registry, but that has not yet started.”[ii]
“Mr. Cahill’s claims that we have been undertaking ‘restricted consultation’ and the Police Association has been ‘deliberately excluded‘, demonstrate a paranoia ill-befitting of the organisation he represents.”
Cahill did not appreciate the truth being pointed out to him in that fashion.
“Well, it’s clearly insulting,” he complained to reporters.
“Given our lengthy history in promotion of the safety of our members and the protection of the public, we consider our exclusion raises serious concerns about the integrity of the reviews and the independence of the Associate Minister of Justice, Nicole McKee.”
Chris Cahill, in his open letter New Zealand’s Prime Minister, implied the nonsense that honest, licensed firearms owners are responsible for the actions of violent career criminals, just like Justin Trudeau and his parade of Public Safety Ministers.
“It is our members who are literally in the firing line, combatting the threats posed by criminals all too willing to use firearms,” Cahill wrote.
McKee refused to allow Cahill’s misinformation to stand.
“We’re doing targeted consultation scoping on some of the legislative reforms that we want to look to implement during this term of government,” said Minister McKee, “and while the Police Association feel that they’ve been excluded, we have actually included New Zealand Police who represent all of the frontline, not just those that belong to the union.”[iii]
“There is no need for every single entity to be involved in that at this very early stage and [the] Police Association will have the ability to be able to present their views in the very near future as we start to bring these proposals to fruition.”
Conflating Licensed Gun Owners with Criminals
Conflating responsible firearms owners with violent criminals is a time-honored tradition among integrity-challenged politicians here in Canada.
“I tell you… not every person who’s in the gun lobby is an extremist, but everybody who’s extremist is in the gun lobby,” said Public Safety Minister Bill Blair during a Liberal Party panel event.[iv]
RCMP confirmed that the Nova Scotia mass murderer did not legally acquire the guns he used to murder 22 people. He smuggled most of the weapons across the border from the United States and stole others, and he was not licensed to own firearms.[v]
Those facts didn’t stop Public Safety Minister Bill Blair or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from laying the blame squarely at the feet of Canada’s licensed firearms owners.
Canada’s legislative attacks focus solely and specifically on legal owners of firearms.
The only people who can legally possess semi-automatic rifles (those firearms banned by the May 1, 2020, Order in Council) are Canadians who pass the government-mandated firearms safety course and pass an RCMP background check.
“Today, we are closing the market for military-grade assault weapons in Canada”, said Justin Trudeau.[vi]“These weapons were designed for one purpose, and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his parade of Public Safety Ministers ignore violent criminals like the Nova Scotia mass killer, while using their heinous actions to attack ordinary, law-abiding Canadians.
“As of today, the market for assault weapons in Canada is closed,” Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said.[vii]“Enough is enough. Banning these firearms will save Canadian lives.”
“These changes [Bill C-21] represent a major milestone on the long journey of keeping our communities safe from gun violence,” said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, Bill Blair’s successor.
“We respect law abiding gun owners, including hunters and farmers and Indigenous Peoples,” Mendicino claimed in 2023,[viii] “and we will take a fair and equitable approach when it comes to compensating them for firearms which are ultimately determined to be prohibited under Bill C-21.”
Four years later, there is still no plan to compensate licensed firearms owners for the theft and destruction of their private property by government.
“One of the ways we are taking action is by strengthening gun control,” said Dominic LeBlanc.[ix] “Bill C-21 received Royal Assent on December 15, 2023, and includes some of the strongest gun control laws in a generation. This includes a national freeze on the sale, purchase, and transfer of handguns, and provisions to fight gun smuggling and trafficking at our borders.
None of these actions stop drug dealers, gang members or other violent criminals from obtaining guns illegally, as we see in almost daily headlines across the nation.[x], [xi], [xii]
Nicole McKee Stands Her Ground
“[The New Zealand Arms Act] has been amended several times – in a piecemeal, and sometimes rushed way. This has resulted in outdated and complicated requirements that unfairly target licenced firearms owners, often with no clear benefit to public safety,” McKee said.[xiii]
“It is time we take a good look at the whole system and make the necessary changes to ensure that it is fit for purpose for New Zealand today and into the future. We need to find simple, workable solutions that deliver tangible safety outcomes for New Zealand communities.”
McKee said the government aimed to pass the law changes by the end of its current term. She said rewriting the act would modernise the law “so that it provides for greater public safety, reflects best regulatory practice, and is fit for purpose”.
“It provides a unique opportunity to take a systematic and considered approach to our laws, in a way that hasn’t been done in over 40 years. Rather than the rushed ‘government-knows-best’ approach that we have seen in the past, we will be consulting with New Zealanders to allow their views to be heard.“
Political campaigns are won by boots on the ground, by concerned citizens committing their time, their talent and their treasure to winning their local election fight.
If you want Canada to approach you with the same integrity that New Zealand’s Nicole McKee does with her constituents, get involved in your local constituency association today.
[i] https://www.policeassn.org.nz/news/an-open-letter-to-prime-minister-christopher-luxon#/
[ii] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/524842/police-association-urges-pm-to-strip-gun-reform-portfolio-off-nicole-mckee
[iii] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/524936/firearms-reform-minister-says-police-association-input-not-needed
[iv] https://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/cpac-special/episodes/66359467/
[v] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-gun-control-measures-ban-1.5552131
[vi] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxyzsUK-hfk&feature=youtu.be&t=265
[vii] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-gun-control-measures-ban-1.5552131
[viii] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-mendicino-says-ottawa-eyeing-options-for-planned-firearm-buyback/
[ix] https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/06/statement-from-the-minister-of-public-safety-democratic-institutions-and-intergovernmental-affairs.html
[x] https://cssa-cila.org/whats-behind-all-the-broad-daylight-shootings-in-the-gta/
[xi] https://cssa-cila.org/torontos-youth-driven-violence-escalates-despite-policing-initiative-and-national-day-against-gun-violence/
[xii] https://cssa-cila.org/illegal-guns-flood-across-border-3d-printed-guns-a-rising-threat-domestically/
[xiii] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/519541/new-gun-laws-in-place-by-2026-nicole-mckee
