New Zealand gun owners disarmed for thoughtcrimes
Americans can no longer afford to say, "It can never happen here."
Sixty-two New Zealand gun owners had their firearm licenses revoked, not for anything they said or did, but for what they allegedly believed.
The 62 licensees must now surrender their firearms. None were ever charged with a crime. Instead, New Zealand government officials accused them — and more than a thousand others who did not own firearms — of being “under the influence of sovereign citizen ideologies,” which stress the illegitimacy of the national government.
These types of anti-government beliefs, according to the New Zealand newspaper Waikato Times, violate the “fit and proper person” clause as defined by New Zealand law, which is a requirement for anyone who applies for or possesses a firearm license.
