New Zealand Government Punishes Gun Owners for Their Political Beliefs

“Sixty-two firearms licence holders with views aligned to the Sovereign Citizens movement had their licences revoked after a police intelligence operation,” Catherine Hubbard reported for the Waikato Times on October 13. “Nationally, police identified 1,400 people as acting under the influence of Sovereign Citizen ideologies, and of that number, 158 were firearms licence holders.”

If you’re not familiar with the term, “sovereign citizen” is a general description for various people who deny the legitimacy of government and claim to live under common law separate from rules imposed by the state. That is, they go beyond the skepticism of government legitimacy shared by many people, including philosophical anarchists like Michael Huemer (I recommend his book, The Problem of Political Authority) and sometimes try to live by their ideas. They might refuse to use license plates and file liens against government officials while wielding garbled legal arguments that they incorrectly think will ward off unimpressed cops and judges.

Like anybody else, they’re occasionally dangerous. But mostly, they’re that guy who corners you at a party to tell you about his magic constitutional revelation that will immunize you against the income tax.

via reason.com

Well, that’s not good.

J.D. Tuccille.