Bullets and barbed warnings were exchanged as gun enthusiasts took aim at proposed new limits on ammunition stockpiles being considered by the Dunedin City Council yesterday.
Members of a council hearings committee were warned by one Wellington-based firearms expert the crackdown risked turning thousands of gun-owning Dunedin residents into "petty criminals".
A "passionate" shooter went further, handing out used ammunition, including giant 50-calibre rounds fired by machine guns, to committee members.
The aim was to highlight the variety of rounds recreational shooters and gun enthusiasts needed to store in their homes.
"I just don't want it [limits] to go down," he said.
"There's no question you have got our attention," committee chairman Cr Colin Weatherall assured him.
The discussions came as the hearings committee considered the first day of public submissions on plan change 13: hazardous substances yesterday.
The plan change aimed to bring the council's district plan rules on hazardous substances into line with the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996.
The changes introduced new classifications for a variety of potentially dangerous materials, including ammunition, petrol, explosive gases, lime and cement, and also limited quantities able to be stored without a resource consent.
The proposed changes prompted 48 submissions, all but one calling for changes and more than half concerned about ammunition limits.
Other major submitters included large employers like Port Otago and the University of Otago, which were worried about the impact restrictions could have on their operations, as well as individuals and groups.
Council staff had already attempted to address their concerns by revising the plans, but it was the concerns of recreational shooters that dominated much of yesterday's session.
Among the rules, shooters would be restricted to 25kg of safety ammunition, 15kg of gunpowder and black powder, and 15kg of smokeless ammunition reloading powder in their homes.
The limits would be based on the weight of gunpowder inside each round, not that of the entire round.
However, Wellington-based ammunition retailer Paul Clark, also of the New Council of Licensed Firearms Owners Inc, said the restrictions were unnecessary, as ammunition remained "a very safe product" unlikely to explode in a house fire.
Instead, the popularity of gun ownership and demand for ammunition meant the restrictions risked driving ammunition storage underground, he warned.
"All you can do is make petty criminals of people."
The area between Dunedin and Invercargill boasted the highest rate of gun ownership per capita in the country, and there were likely to be 10,000 gun-owners in Dunedin, he said.
Many shooters also owned different types of guns and needed a variety of ammunition, while others stocked up on ammunition for family hunting trips, for example, he said.
A more appropriate limit for safety ammunition in homes would be 50kg, rather than 25kg, if one was needed at all, he believed.
"There isn't a problem. There isn't a safety issue. Why overregulate it?"
His concerns were echoed by other shooters in written submissions, while another man told the committee he also worried about the possible impact on his hobbies of collecting and reloading his own ammunition.
The council had already lifted the proposed limit on gunpowder and black powder from 5kg to 15kg, and for safety ammunition from 15kg to 25kg, to bring the rules into line with the HSNO Act, a council staff report said.
That followed an earlier round of public consultation, including a meeting with recreational shooters.
Yesterday's hearing began with a submission by Dunedin man Tony Parata, who warned the changes could force residents to seek resource consent for small quantities of dishwasher detergent, petrol or moss killer.
However, the staff report clarified "everyday use" of household chemicals would continue as a permitted activity, and would not require consents.
Committee members also heard yesterday from the LPG Association of New Zealand, and expected to hear more submitters this morning before beginning deliberations in the afternoon.
