New Zealand used to have some pretty decent gun laws, at least in comparison to the rest of the world. The restrictions they had would never have stoon here in the United States, but people could get guns without some of the issues they’d have trying to get them elsewhere.

Then the Christchurch shootings happened and everything went to crap.

Since then, New Zealand has passed substantial gun control legislation, all meant to restrict guns and keep them out of the wrong hands.

Officially.

But a recent incident raises questions about just how well those gun laws are actually working.

An Auckland man has pleaded not guilty in Auckland’s Waitākere District Court this morning to a number of charges related to the unlawful possession of firearms.

…

In total 35 firearms were located, along with more than 15,000 rounds of ammunition. The man was initially facing 29 charges related to the unlawful possession of firearms and magazines, and for the supply of cannabis.

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At the time of the man’s arrest Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Williams of the Waitematā CIB said the man held a firearms licence but alleged many of the guns in his possession were held unlawfully.

In other words, if the allegations are accurate, it seems that licensing requirements didn’t actually stop this guy from getting guns he shouldn’t lawfully possess.

About 29 of them, it sounds like.

New Zealand’s gun control rampage happened fairly recently, but licensing was required there before Christchurch, which means this isn’t a new regulation. He didn’t get a pile of guns, then only bothered to get a license for a few after new regulations rolled out.

No, it would seem that he got guns in spite of licensing requirements already on the books.

With that in mind, let’s remember that groups like Everytown want gun licensing here. They’re even concocting “studies” to make the claim that it’ll save a ton of lives if we do so. The argument is that if people have to have licenses to buy guns, even if just certain kinds of guns, then somehow it’ll keep bad people from getting them.

Yet this incident illustrates that if someone wants a gun, they’re going to get one.

New Zealand has never been as free on the issue of guns as we have, yet despite that, this guy reportedly got nearly 30 firearms without a license.

Gun laws don’t stop the determined. If someone wants to have a gun, they’ll get a gun. If what they want is illegal and they want it bad enough, they’ll still get it.

It doesn’t matter if it’s some dude in New Zealand or a gang-banger on a Chicago street corner. You cannot prevent them from getting what they want.

What you can do, though, is prevent those who wish to abide by the law. The issue is that those folks are also going to abide by the laws prohibiting things like murder, so they’re not the issue in the first place.

It’s just unfortunately how few people can actually comprehend this fact.