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My July Blog
I have decided to leave this here as I feel it is
not the end of the issue regarding COLFO, see NZ Guns
July/August edition.
Most shooting organizations I belong to are members of COLFO, The
Council of Licenced Firearms owners. You pay a portion of your
subscription to COLFO so that they may lobby on your behalf as a
responsible firearms owner.
Now don’t get me wrong, COLFO are now a recognized NGO
(Non Governmental Agency) which represents our views at the UN. They do
some great work here in NZ liaising on our behalf with politicians and
the NZ Police to formulate firearms policy.
They have recently produced a Bumper sticker for members
in the run up to this years election.
Take a look!
But what does this say?
Now
here’s the point, we are our own worst enemy. Last election they had a
bumper sticker that said
“150,000 Responsible New Zealanders own guns - AND VOTE!”
Now this said something, 150,00 is a good sized lobby
group. Potential and sitting politicians would take notice of a voting
block of this size. But here’s what happened, some members in our midst,
I call them the
Paranoid Gun Owners lobby,
threw up there hands in shock/horror. “Are you crazy” they said, “You
want me to put this on my car and let all the world know that I own a
GUUUN! Next thing I know some gang member will follow me home, hit me on
the head, steal my guns, rape my wife, kill my cat and generally create
mayhem in my home”
So COLFO have come up with this, what the hell does it
say? Responsible voters, I would have thought that anyone who voted
would consider themselves a responsible voter, politics aside.
So COLFO joins the political responsible brigade, They
put out a bumper sticker, for us to say we are a responsible voter, it
doesn’t say for what? Cabbage eaters, snail farmers? It represents
nothing, and fails to give the politicians, and the voting public a
message that we are
responsible firearms owners…. And vote.
WHAT COLFO SAYS!
The COLFO sticker for this year’s election campaign has
a neutral message and there are a number reasons for that -
including
• The Elector al Finance Act 2007 for bids certain types
of advertising during an election year
• For security reasons many of our members do not want
to advertise that they are gun owners .
COLFO supports policies that enhance responsible
firearms possession and use, rather than any particular political
party or parties
Another disappointing aspect of the release by COLFO and published in
the Black Powder Express (Added Note:
This is incorrect, The COLFO Release was published in the Foresight
Magazine, The Official Publication of the New Zealand Black Powder
Federation inc. Not the Blackpowder Express, I regret this error.)
is that is just regurgitated information from the last, 2005,
election with no editing. One paragraph relating to the NZ police
relicencing is over 10 years old whilst the release also discusses
voting, in contradiction to the above statement regarding the Electoral
Finance Act 2007, with a recommendation of which parties, or political
groups individuals should vote for. One
party in particular being now defunct.
Overall a disappointing
effort by COLFO, whom I pay at least three levies by way of club
subscriptions. Now that's another issue of COLFO, double dipping, in my
case tipple dipping. But don't get me started! I will pass this web site
on to COLFO, they may like to comment.
COLFO's Reply to my Blog of 8 July 08
Phil
I would
like to put my view of the COLFO perspective upon your comments. Our
organization, (yours and mine to name just two COLFO members), works
with all political parties to ensure that we can get the best deal for
our member organizations. Like you I am affiliated through more than one
organization. I also pay an individual membership because my varied
interest in firearms is wide spread. Any changes in our current
political and legislative status could be said to affect me on more than
one front so I don’t mind paying multiple fees, they are a small price
to pay to be able to continue my sporting interests. Just like all the
other COLFO Board members I am passionate about shooting and the ability
to continue to enjoy our sport without to much political interference.
COLFO has
adopted the Responsible Voter promotion to put the politicians of all
the major parties on notice that we are watching their moves. Given the
current Electoral Finance Act we are limited in what we can legally do
some areas. COLFO is not a registered group affiliated to any party,
nor do we intend to change this status unless our members direct
otherwise. We have more strength with being independent
We
realize many shooters and even non shooters are politically aware and
have access to computers. Our intention with the Responsible Voter
campaign is to draw people to our web site and the messages we promote
there. We have has some good feed back already, and I am sure we will
get more feedback in the future from our members.
We have a
considerable amount of information available online at the COLFO
website:
We have
links to all the major political party’s home pages for ease of finding
political information of interest to our members. This also let’s them
know shooters are watching what they publish. Please use these links
regularly.
We have
also links to the anti gun lobby so our members can easily see the
threats they pose to us; It is really interesting to see how they think.
We have
added links to the UN website where many NZ laws including firearms laws
appear to originate from. (Our Chairman is attending UN sessions on
firearms laws almost as this is published as a member of the NZ
Government delegation along with Mr P Alphers) We hope he will be able
to negate some of Mr Alphers emotive but unsubstantiated rhetoric).
We have
hosted online proceedings of the last two seminars we were involved in
running so that those shooters who were not able to attend can get some
benefits from the proceedings. Cutting the tape was a real eye opener
for attendees and this has opened many possibilities for individuals to
learn from the presenters published documentation.
Other
things we have available are firearms related policies that have been
proactively drawn up and based upon the best of international laws
favoring shooters to help set the scene for possible rule changes by NZ
Government. It is easy to adopt something already in use, than to start
from nothing. These policies are sound, well researched and some of the
older ones are being revamped.
We have
also received provisional status as a nongovernment organization (NGO)
at the United Nations, soon to be ratified hopefully by the larger body
this month. Once this is finalized COLFO can attend the UN as a
recognized group in our own right. This will allow us input into
firearms proposals, before they are adopted as policies or
recommendations. Make no mistake if and when this is finalized this is
a major step forward for NZ firearms member groups.
I am
sorry that you find our efforts lackluster in the political sense, and
perhaps you may like to consider standing for the board next AGM. This
would give you the opportunity to promote and sell your fresh ideas. We
would welcome any additional help to develop new policies and
initiatives. We are all volunteers leading busy work lives (like lots
of other shooters) and are always willing to work with people offering
to share the load.
Our next
move on the political front will be to write to all the political
parties and remind them they are linked through our web pages and ask
them to post their parties fire arms policy up for shooters to evaluate.
COLFO will not endorse any one party we will leave that to shooters to
work out what works best for them. We will however work with all parties
and the government of the day to preserve shooters abilities to enjoy
our sport.
Anyone
who is reading this blog and hasn’t visited the COLFO web site recently
please go to the web site at
www.colfo.org.nz read what we have put up there, use the links to
the political pages and others to see what the world is like out there
and please send us feedback on suggestions for improvement. We may not
adopt your ideas but we will read and circulate them for consideration.
Gary
Howat
Shooter
and
COLFO
board member
Member
Pistol NZ
NZ
Deerstalkers
NZ Black
Powder Shooters Federation
Member NZ
Antique Arms Association
National
Muzzle Loading Rifle Association
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