Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1949 ILLEGAL FIREARMS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 74, 6 April 1949, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1949

ILLEGAL FIREARMS

Comments of the District Coroner, Mr •C. S. Armstrong, at yesterday’s inquest into the deaths of Traffic Officer John Kehoe and Richard Angus McGill, drew attention to the grave menace of unregistered firearms.

As he pointed out, it is possible that “the tragic and futile ending of these two young lives might well have been prevented had the public realised their responsibility to hand such weapons over to the authorities.”

Deep concern over the same problem was expressed by the Whakatane -Chamber of Commerce at its last general meeting, which adopted a report concerning illegal arms which said, in part: “There appears to be a plentiful supply of these available. They are . chiefly weapons brought originally from overseas by Servicemen as souvenirs. We are of the opinion that a regulation should be drawn up to give immunity from prosecution for a period of three months, during which time all Unregistered arms should -be either registered with the police or, if not wanted, handed in to the police. At the expiration of this three months’ immunity we would like to see a heavy penalty, possibly with imprisonment added, imposed on all holders of illegal weapons found after the final date; this penalty to apply to all holders of illegal ammunition.”

The Chamber instructed its executive to frame a resolution drawing the attention of the appropriate authorities to that paragraph. Even without the added weight of the tragedy that happened here so short a time ago, the good sense of the Chamber’s recomendation should be obvious.

There is a dreadful fascination about revolvers and pistols for imaginative youngsters, and very often these weapons fall .into the hands of those who have not .sufficient sense of responsibility to be safe custodians for them. Worse, they can and do fall into the hands of those who deliberately use them for unlawful and sinister purposes. Anyone who, possessing an illegal firearm, does not hand it in to the authorities commits an offence against the law. But anyone who, possessing one o* these weapons, allows himself to be persuaded to part with it other than to the authorities commits an offence against society. There can be no possible objection to the owning and keeping of such, weapons as souvenirs. There can also be no objection from law abiding citizens to having such souvenirs rendered harmless by the Police, who will then permit their retention.

As both Mr Armstrong and the Chamber of Commerce have

pointed out, it is evident that there are many unregistered pistols and revolvers in the Dominion.

The fact that one man was found to be in possession of three in good working order emphasises that point. And that those weapons should have caused the death of two young men emphasises the danger.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that all those who have such arms in their possession will not flinch from their obvious duty, though there is no doubt that the fear of possible prosecution might stand in the way in many cases.

Therefore,, it would seem that the phamber of Commerce suggestion of a limited period of immunity is one well worthy of serious official consideration.