Over 40 people arrested in crackdown on illegal firearms

One must commend the sheer audacity of 'Operation Black Onyx', a week-long endeavour that, by all accounts, 'disrupted' a staggering 43 individuals. Imagine the relief across Aotearoa as 96 illicit firearms, a veritable arsenal of shotguns, rifles, and pistols, were painstakingly removed from the hands of the criminally inclined. It’s almost as if the problem of illegal weaponry is a finite, manageable entity, easily contained by a focused seven-day effort and the diligent application of 83 search warrants. The numerical precision – 110 charges, 15 firearm parts – lends an air of incontrovertible triumph.

And what a partnership it was, with Kiwi and Aussie officers joining forces. Detective Inspector Andrew Alexander, a man clearly unburdened by irony, lauded the "real time example" of the Firearms Registry's benefits. One pictures a digital ledger, ticking down the grand total of all illegal guns in the nation, each seizure a satisfying subtraction. It’s almost quaint, this belief that a registry, a mere database, can "hold individuals to account" when they are already operating well outside the bounds of any official record.

The language itself, a masterful blend of corporate speak and law enforcement jargon, paints a picture of a well-oiled machine, smoothly "utilising our intelligence-led approach" to ensure the streets are safe. One wonders, however, what constitutes an "intelligence-led approach" when 96 guns are deemed a success. Were these the only 96 guns? Or merely the low-hanging fruit, the easily identifiable transgressors? The implication is that a brief, intense burst of activity has somehow recalibrated the entire landscape of illicit firearms, rather than merely skimming a few items off the top of a much larger, murkier pool. It’s a performance, certainly, designed to reassure rather than to genuinely solve.

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360869524/over-40-people-arrested-crackdown-illegal-firearms