Legal challenge to new gun laws thrown out

The High Court has dismissed a challenge to the Government’s new gun law that argued that the right to bear arms should be protected as taonga under the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Kiwi Party had challenged the validity of the Arms Amendment Act and the expedited process by which it was passed, and asked the court to forbid the Government from acting on the law until six months after the 2020 election or until a referendum could be held.

But Justice Edwin Wylie said the party’s case was untenable on all grounds except its claim that an order to prevent stockpiling went beyond the Government’s legal authority.

The Kiwi Party, which was created by licensed firearms owners and is different to the party of the same name that broke away from United Future in 2007, is now taking its case to the Court of Appeal.

The gun law passed in April banned most military-style semi-automatic weapons and associated parts.

The Kiwi Party argued that the Treaty protected Ma¯ ori rights to taonga and that included “firearms of a nature” for self-defence and resistance.

But Justice Wylie said it was “alarming” to claim that taonga included anything that could deliver a lethal force such as military-style semiautomatic firearms, and added that the argument was not even relevant because the Treaty of Waitangi did not confer enforceable legal rights.

The party also argued that the law violated private property rights and the Bill of Rights 1688.

But Justice Wylie said the bill included the words “as allowed by law”.

He also noted the gun law did not ban all firearms, and that the right to private property was never absolute.

“Parliament is supreme, and the courts do not have a power to consider the validity of properly enacted laws.”

Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek said the decision “put to rest” a number of arguments put forward by the gun lobby.

She said it was “offensive” to suggest the Treaty included a right to have military-style semi-automatic firearms.

“I’m not sure the Kiwi Party has a particular interest to Māori rights under the Treaty generally.

“They’re merely trying to throw everything in the hope that something will stick.”

Kiwi Party counsel Graeme Minchin said the party would fight its case all the way to the Supreme Court if it had enough money to do so.

The party’s main arguments were that the process had lacked appropriate public consultation, that there was a constitutional right to bear arms, and that the gun law was invalid because MMP was not representative of the people, but the “will of the party”.