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Post by woodsy on Mar 2, 2010 20:05:16 GMT 1
Hi Guys. Last year the NZ Police tried to enforce their own interpretation of what constituted a Military Style Semi-Automatic (MSSA) which invloves much higher vetting and security than sporting rifles. Part of our Arms Act covering MSSA's uses the words 'military pattern free-standing pistol grip' and the Police began (after 18 years of the status quo) to insist that semi-autos with thumbhole stocks also fell into this classification. We had the Court hearing last October and the judgement was released on Monday ruling that the Police interpretaion was not what Parliament intended in the 1992 Act, and the Police action was unlawful. Our next action will be to make the officer primarily involved repay the $60,000 of taxpayer funds that were used in advertising. Our Courts have a history of not liking Gov't departments (and Puiblic Servants) who try to usurp the power of Parliament and the Court! ;D
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Post by Kev on Mar 3, 2010 1:42:43 GMT 1
How refreshing to hear good news regarding firearms and the law,congratulations !  ATB Kevin |
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Post by Peter Wells on Mar 3, 2010 11:43:05 GMT 1
That IS good news Rod. With costs I hope? Congrats to all the parties/individuals on the winning side |
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Post by woodsy on Mar 4, 2010 19:38:14 GMT 1
Hi Peter
We have 30 days from last Monday to lodge a claim for costs, but in reality the costs were fairly low. The case was done by a layman (an affected party) with only one year of law at university behind him, and I did my thing with only one minor return airfare to recover. Two others also contributed research time. None of the four of us charged for our time.
There is no real need for these cases to cost a fortune if a few good men are prepared to sacrifice a bit of time to support their cause. A previous instance many years ago when I took the Commissioner to the High Court for making his own rules (which we won) required the hiring of a QC who was so intrigued by the case that he did it (almost) pro bono. The Commissioner of Police was required to pay our costs but they only came to about $3,000.
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