A 137-page discussion document has been launched by Police regarding the future Police approval and certification of shooting ranges.

Clubs and individuals have just 6 weeks to lodge their thoughts and feedback on the proposed changes.

Chaz Forsyth, Sporting Shooters Assn President says he is sure he speaks for most of the 240,000 licensed gun owners when he says there was no intention of listening to those affected.

“These new regulations are another example of vindictive bureaucracy, dictated by government ideology against lawful firearm owners, following the Christchurch massacre, when we all know that that tragedy was perpetrated by a lone fanatic, who obtained his firearms through police mismanagement of the firearms licence system."

He says the Police and the Government are targeting the wrong people.

"There has been no evidence of safety issues reported on civilian ranges in New Zealand. Now we have police, who are well known for their questionable shooting ability, through inadequate training, dictating to civilians on how to conduct their sports shooting.”

Forsyth adds that a major part of the role of clubs is training and safe use of firearms.

“To close down clubs and shooting ranges because they think that will help is like banning driver training to save lives on the roads”

The Sporting Shooters Assn is calling for a total re--write of the Arms Act 2020.

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