Lawmaker brings rifle to city council to protest new gun storage rules

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) An Indigenous lawmaker brought his hunting rifle to a meeting of the New Taipei City Council on Tuesday, in protest of what he said were overly-stringent new gun storage regulations announced by the central government.

Lahuy Ipin, a member of the Atayal people from Wulai District, held the rifle (in a non-threatening manner) during a questioning session with New Taipei Police Commissioner Liao Hsun-cheng (廖訓誠) and Indigenous Peoples Department head Siku Yaway.

He began with a disclaimer, saying that he was licensed to own the weapon, which was legally registered, and believed there was no law expressly prohibiting him from bringing the rifle into the city council.

If it is illegal to do so, he said, he was willing to face the legal consequences.

The Indigenous city councilor expressed concern over new regulations, implemented by the central government on March 15, for how Indigenous people store their hunting rifles, and asked whether the New Taipei City government was prepared for the changes.

Under the revised regulations, Indigenous hunting rifles stored individually have to be kept in an iron safe equipped with an alarm and surveillance video camera, he said.

For rifles kept in centralized storage, the regulations state that the facility must be made of reinforced concrete, be under 24-hour guard, and have security cameras, humidity control and fire safety equipment, Lahuy Ipin said.

In many Indigenous villages, these requirements are "difficult to meet," he said.

Lahuy Ipin urged the New Taipei government to be proactive in dealing with the new regulations, particularly the centralized storage rules.

City officials should go to Indigenous communities to explain the changes and help them reach a consensus on committing tribal funding, without which they may fail to comply, he said.

In response, Liao said he would discuss the issue with the National Police Agency, and then carry out relevant planning for New Taipei.

According to Lahuy Ipin, there are currently 210 hunting rifles registered to Indigenous owners in New Taipei.

The rifles must be stored in an Indigenous area, though they can be moved to a police station in a non-Indigenous area for temporary storage in the event of an emergency, he said.

Taiwanese law allows Indigenous people, who comprise around 2.5 percent of the total population, to use homemade rifles to hunt as a part of their traditional culture.

In a high-profile case in 2021, however, the Constitutional Court upheld laws requiring Indigenous hunters to use only homemade weapons and laws banning them from killing protected animal species.