Brian Tamaki blames immigrants for police seizing his guns

Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki has had his guns seized by armed police.

In a video posted to Facebook by Tamaki, he filmed himself at his property interacting with police officers, who were in his garage, cataloguing the firearms.

The officers could be seen removing multiple firearms from his gun safe, including hunting rifles equipped with scopes and suppressors and what appeared to be a lever-action repeating rifle.

"They obviously think that I'm dangerous with it," he said.

In the video, Tamaki claimed his gun licence had been revoked two days ago without his knowledge.

“I had no notice that my licence was cancelled, so I could have used them when I was hunting I’d have been illegally.”

He called the seizures "over the top".

"I'm a Kiwi, I've been here all my life, a hunter."

Superintendent Shanan Gray confirmed police officers were at an Auckland address to serve a firearms temporary licence suspension notice.

"This notice was served on the firearms licence holder. This took place without incident," Gray said.

"Police is not in a position to comment on the specifics of this individual’s case."

However, Gray said "generally speaking", this kind of action was "not uncommon".

"A person’s licence can be temporarily suspended while the firearms regulator investigates further, to ensure the licence holder remains ‘fit and proper’ to possess a firearm."

Tamaki said in the video he believed the seizure of his guns had been caused by pressure from migrant communities and said politicians were trying to appease voters.

“They’ve complained to the police that probably, I’m dangerous because of the threats they said about the mosques, the temples, which was never going to be happening.

"I wouldn’t burn their temples down, and neither would I do anything dangerous."

Tamaki earlier this month made comments on social media, where he called for New Zealand to "purge" Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims.

The Destiny Church founder also directed accusations at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying: "He is currently purging India of all Christians and burning church buildings down.

"I think we should reciprocate in kind. Let's purge New Zealand of Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. And, while we're at it, if they're burning churches down, why don't we burn mosques and their temples down? Tit for tat."

In today's livestream he said: "The fact is that they're feeling the heat from me, that's what it is. They're feeling the heat about this immigration problem and the way that they're treating Kiwis. We're not looked after."

Tamaki has previously called for a protest in Auckland to coincide with Modi's visit to New Zealand next month.

Responding to Tamaki's comments, police said at the time it was "actively monitoring" the situation and would "engage with community leaders to understand and respond to any concerns".

"The material has been referred for legal assessment, and any further action will be considered in line with legislation."

After Tamaki’s initial comments, Police Minister Mark Mitchell said: “It is obvious that Brian Tamaki's rants and deliberate targeting of ethnic communities and cowardly social media attacks against individuals are designed to tear at our social fabric to scare and prompt a response from the groups and individuals being targeted.”

He said these were the actions of a “scared bully”.

“We enjoy freedom of speech in our country, but with that comes responsibilities."

The Federation of the Islamic Associations of New Zealand called Tamaki’s comments “verbal bullets of incitement and provocation".

"Hateful rhetoric and the normalisation of verbal bullets towards religious and ethnic minorities can create ... conditions for violent extremism," the statement said.

"New Zealand cannot afford to ignore those lessons.

"The March 15 terrorist used the same language, and we are seeing history repeating itself."

Watch John Campbell's investigation into Brian Tamaki and Destiny church - Under His Command on TVNZ+