Thanks for the information. Interesting comment on California gun laws.

When I was working in IBM Research (a little under 20 years ago) as an Intern I took a trip to Cupertino and one of my bosses had me reach under his passenger seat to show me they had a pistol there. It was the first and only time I have seen a civilian with a pistol.

I was somewhat disappointed and sad by it, I assumed he was legally carrying it - obviously that assumption was wrong.

I don't think I have ever seen NZ police with a side firearm - the approach has worked here. Our risk in NZ is that the police will become more armed over time.