I can’t think of a single anti-gunner that doesn’t want some kind of gun registry. They try to claim that such a thing would be a useful tool for law enforcement and that it’ll make it easier to catch bad guys, but never address the fact that if someone has a gun illegally, they’re probably not going to register it.

It’s not exactly rocket science.

In New Zealand, they’ve got a gun registry, but a lot of people there are now questioning it after some recent developments.

Figures have emerged showing a fraction of firearms seized by police are legally imported or manufactured in New Zealand.

Gun lobbyists say it’s evidence that most illegal guns are smuggled in, and are once again calling into question the need for a Firearms Registry.

But police say the previous data was limited.

Police recently seized several firearms from a licensed dealer in Auckland, who last week was charged with the unlawful selling of firearms and ammunition.

“The dealer has allegedly knowingly sold firearms to individuals who are not lawfully able to possess them,” said Firearms Safety Authority director of operations, Supt Richard Wilson.

The diverting of firearms to criminals and gangs is a problem police have long talked about.

“Our biggest concern is firearms stolen out of the lawful fleet,” said Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in 2021, after nearly 1000 guns were seized over the first six months of Operation Tauwhiro.

But Hugh Devereux-Mack from the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the lawful fleet of guns isn’t the problem.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, he said: “Police have previously claimed that licensed firearms owners were the main source of firearms for criminals. This is wrong.”

And it should be noted that even if criminals are getting them from licensed gun owners in the country, a registry isn’t exactly going to help prevent that because few are intentionally providing them. Instead, criminals will get them via theft, not direct sales.

Now, this is New Zealand and not the United States, but this is just a glimpse of how stupid gun registries actually are.

Look, there are two markets for guns in literally every nation on the planet. There’s the lawful market, which is so heavily restricted in most places as to be seemingly non-existent, and there’s the black market.

When a country or state decides to enact a gun registry, what they’re basically doing is completely ignoring the black market for guns and those who obtained guns that way. They’re treating lawful gun owners as if they’re the potential criminal.

And for what?

Take NFA firearms, as an example. We’ve had registry of those guns for decades.

Meanwhile, let’s talk about the full-auto or short-barreled firearms found by police in criminal hands. Guess what? They’re not the ones on the NFA registry. All those articles about full-auto switches? None of them were registered.

Gun registration is not a tool for preventing crime.

The only thing it’s good for is knowing who the lawful gun owners are so you can round up their guns at some point down the road. That’s all that they’re really useful for and we all know it.

And while this is New Zealand, many want to bring this to our shores.