New Zealand Government Punishes Gun Owners for Their Political Beliefs
A common—and persuasive—argument against gun registration is that those who comply just put themselves on a list to have their firearms stolen by government officials in the future. As if to emphasize the point, the New Zealand government recently confiscated firearms licenses and the guns they covered from 62 people because of their political ideology. The situation is an important reminder that warnings against registering firearms are correct. But it also raises a red flag about governments’ willingness to punish people for the ideas they believe.
Under the Influence of Ideology
“Sixty-two firearms licence holders with views aligned to the Sovereign Citizens movement had their licences revoked after a police intelligence operation,” Catherine Hubbard reported for the Waikato Times on October 13. “Nationally, police identified 1,400 people as acting under the influence of Sovereign Citizen ideologies, and of that number, 158 were firearms licence holders.”
If you’re not familiar with the term, “sovereign citizen” is a general description for various people who deny the legitimacy of government and claim to live under common law separate from rules imposed by the state. That is, they go beyond the skepticism of government legitimacy shared by many people, including philosophical anarchists like Michael Huemer (I recommend his book, The Problem of Political Authority) and sometimes try to live by their ideas. They might refuse to use license plates and file liens against government officials while wielding garbled legal arguments that they—incorrectly—think will ward off unimpressed cops and judges.
Like anybody else, they’re occasionally dangerous. But mostly, they’re that guy who corners you at a party to tell you about his magic constitutional revelation that will immunize you against the income tax.
Sovereign citizens have found fertile ground in New Zealand, given a boost by the country’s harsh COVID-era restrictions. And, for some reason, they really upset government officials in that country.
“The Police Security Intelligence and Threats Group’s Operation Belfast in September 2022 aimed at identifying safety risks to staff from people influenced by Sovereign Citizen ideologies,” Hubbard added in her piece. “In most instances, no charges were laid in respect of a revocation process, unless the former licence holder had committed a criminal offence.”
Beliefs That Aren’t ‘Fit and Proper’
That’s right, the country’s police conducted a domestic intelligence operation to identify people who hold cranky ideological beliefs. They were stripped of their firearms licenses because they were no longer considered “fit and proper” to possess them.
I approached the New Zealand Police about the situation, but their press people refused to answer my questions. “Due to resourcing and our obligations to New Zea
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