The police targeted gun owners from the “sovereign citizens” group for surveillance and disarmament, because of 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.”