Did the Police ok 2,300 rounds for Tarrant?
The Herald reports:
The man accused of the March 15 terror attack was supplied 2300 rounds of ammunition by using a police mail order form that also revealed to police he had an AR-15, a parliamentary select committee has been told.
The information was part of a submission from licensed firearms dealer Paul McNeill to the finance and expenditure committee, which is considering the Government’s second tranche of gun law reform.
McNeill, who is also director of the Aoraki Ammunition Company, appeared before the committee on Friday via video link, but his submission was quickly taken offline in case it might affect the accused’s right to a fair trial.
He told the committee he received a police mail order form from the Dunedin arms officer in December 2017 to supply the accused with 2300 rounds of ammunition.
“At the time, Brenton Tarrant was issued with a 10 year [firearms] licence, expired 8 September 2027, indicating he was issued a licence in September of 2017, which from my information was only a matter of five or six weeks after he arrived in the country,” McNeill told the committee.
“This time, he has no family, no partner, no job, no footprint in the community, yet he was vetted as being fit and proper and obviously given a full licence which allowed him to arm himself.”
McNeill said the mail order form also said the accused was in possession of a Norinco semi-automatic rifle as well as an AR-15 – the type of military-style semi-automatic firearm the Government made illegal in the aftermath of the March 15 attacks.
“So the police were aware he had these firearms,” McNeill said in video footage that was removed from the Parliamentary website, but was later posted on social media.
The Royal Commission must include in its report the way Police have been vetting gun owners. I’ve heard from lots of owners that they feel the vetting has been too lax and the problem wasn’t so much the law, but the Police.
As it happens I think the first tranche of law changes were worthwhile, but we still need to be assured that the Police are up to the job of vetting.