A court decision to clear a man who shot an armed intruder
in his gun shop is worrying some lawyers and police as shopkeepers
are warned not to keep loaded guns for protection.
Gunshop director Greg Carvell walked from court a free man
yesterday after two justices of the peace ruled there was no
case to answer after he was charged with the illegal possession
of a firearm.
He admitted he kept the Colt .45 pistol hidden in a desk for
self-protection. It had a full magazine in the butt but no round
in the chamber.
Last July he shot Ricky Beckham in the stomach when Beckham
threatened to kill him with a metre-long machete.
Mr Carvell was not charged with shooting Beckham after police
decided it was done in self defence but he was charged with the
unlawful possession of a firearm under a law which does not allow
people to keep loaded guns
for protection.
Yesterday police said the dismissal of the charge did not say to
other shopkeepers it was okay for them to arm themselves against
possible intruders.
"The dismissal of the charges should not be seen
to carry the message that people in business, or anywhere, should
have weapons at the ready for self-defence," police
spokeswoman, Noreen Hegarty said in the New Zealand
Herald today.
