Hello Mr O’Connor.

As a registered member of your electorate, I want to voice my support for the statement of increased gun control by the Labour Party. As a former member of the Police Association, I feel you will be supporting such measures but I wish to comment.

I would wish to see all semi-automatic rimfire and centrefire rifles as well as semi-automatic shotguns to be completely restricted to the highest degree.

The Labour Party should not allow any leeway or loopholes: Weapons where by recoil or other method, the chamber is unsealed and or another round chambered automatically have no place in the hands of civilians.

There are three uses for firearms. The first is the destruction of human life, and this should be prevented and minimised wherever possible. The second is the destruction of animal life. New Zealand has no animals which require semi-automatic weapons to hunt safely, and the removal of such weapons will have negligible impact on the ability of hunters and pest control to conduct their hunts. Finally, firearms can be entertainment. Entertainment should never be placed above public safety.

A simple, strong legislation that does not rely on cosmetic features, nor easily interchanged parts such as magazines needs to be enforced. A complete ban on semi-automatic action weapons in sale and possession by civilians should be the response to this incident.