John Howat

John Howat of Lower Hutt represented New Zealand as a shooter at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, but gained a much bigger reputation for his deeds after he retired. He once described himself as a hunter, target shooter, collector, author, arms dealer and advisor.

In Christchurch, Howat was placed 14th of 17 competitors in the 25m rapid fire pistol event. He totalled 562, some distance behind the winner, William Hare of Canada, who scored 586. Howat finished the first half of the competition with rounds of 44 and 45, and thereafter was only ever playing catch-up.

Howat won the 1972 New Zealand stand pistol 25m title.

He afterwards took up a number of administrative positions related to shooting, including:

· Founding member and Chairman for nine years of the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners.

· Chairman of the NZ Mountain Safety Council Firearms Technical Committee.

· Founding member, then Treasure and President, and later life member of the New Zealand Pistol Association.

Howat advocated that gun laws should be tightened to prevent weapons getting into the hands of people whose only knowledge of firearms was "what they've seen on TV".

During his 20 years with the Mountain Safety Council, he and Inspector Alistair McCallum were heavily involved in revising the Arms Act 1983. They were also to the forefront of the 1992 Arms Regulations.

While chairing the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, he helped organise major firearms symposiums in Wellington and Christchurch, which showcased New Zealand’s firearms laws of licensing “fit and proper” persons.

Howat worked on the establishment of the Open Polytechnic’s Firearms Safety Distance Learning Course, which was launched in 1987.

As a member of the Police Firearms Consultative Committee, his expertise was internationally acknowledged – he represented New Zealand at two delegations to the United Nations, and addressed a United Nations conference in Thailand.

In 2017, John Howat was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to shooting.