David Seymour warns the Government's gun law reforms have reached a "dangerous new phase" after a right-wing gun owner had his house targeted and raided by police.
Dieuwe de Boer, who co-founded the Right Minds NZ website, posted of his experience to his site. He said he was at his Auckland home with his wife and three young children when half a dozen armed police officers "swarmed in the front door" and searched his house.
De Boer says they were looking for a now-prohibited magazine fitted to a .22 lever-action rifle, which he had said he owned during a submission to Parliament when the arms reforms were being discussed. He's now wondering if the raid was "politically motivated" in order to make an example of him.
Seymour says is "deeply disturbing" and raises serious questions about how gun owners are being targeted.
"How did Police come to identify this person? Were his political views a factor?" he asks in a statement on Saturday.
"Whatever happened to the Government's goal of getting rid of semi-automatics? Police carried out this raid to search for a 'bunny gun' used to hunt rabbits. Why aren't Police going after the gangs and criminals?"
A statement from police said they executed a search warrant and armed officers attended as a precaution.
"As has been well-signalled, the Arms Act has been amended and it is the role of police to ensure compliance with the new legislation," the statement said.
"This means we will investigate and act on information or concerns about now-prohibited firearms, to ensure the safety of our community."
However De Boer says he no longer owns the firearm and questions why police raided him over a photo of a .22LR taken a year ago.
"I took the photo and publicised the details about this firearm as part of the select committee process. This good-faith evidence was used by the police as a justification for their raid," he says on his site.
"Do we now live in a country where public evidence given to a select committee will be used against you to suit the political purposes of the police?
"Are these the kind of intimidation tactics now the norm in New Zealand? Are we going to accept this in a first-world democracy?"
In a statement to Newshub, Police said they "did not use any information from the select committee process".
