July 21, 2022
Prevention best cure for gun epidemic
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Justice Minister Kiritapu Allan says prevention is the best way to deal with gun crime.
Ms Allan says after decades of Governments failing to follow through on recommendations to address gun problems, the measures now being put in place will give police more tools to work with.
These include harsher penalties, a tougher licensing system, a register of owners and new search powers.
But she says the nature of gangs is changing, driven in part by the deportation of criminals back to New Zealand, and more needs to be done to ensure they have alternatives to gang life.
“Prevention is the best cure. It’s far better, it’s far cheaper, it’s far more enduring than any kind of enforcement measures, get tasked to tackle, tackle, tackle crime and all that sort of stuff. The rhetoric sounds good but actually, the hard work, the real investment from the government has to be in those prevention and intervention spaces,” Ms Allan says.