A senior Act MP has admitted being shot as a youth after a drug deal involving his mate, but one that he denies being involved in.

The high-flying Simon Court says he was just 17 at the time and suffered serious injuries.

Court says the shooter was arrested and charged.

He says he was on a camping trip "up north" and one of the guys he was with wanted to buy some "weed."   

The were told to go to a property and when they arrived his friend talked about doing the deal involving marijuana.  

"I felt very uncomfortable with those people there and I left. At some point later in the evening some people turned up at our campsite and put a shotgun in my face."

"My friend was with me at the time, he'd come back (from doing the drug deal)."

"They demanded the key to our car and the weed. I didn't know anything about it, I didn't know where the keys were or where the weed was, it wasn't my weed."

Court says they had a "bit of a discussion with the people and they shot me."

He says they rummaged around after "his buddy fled."

"They couldn't find the keys or anything they were looking for and they left me seriously injured, Court says.

As a 17-year-old he was he was like a lot of teenagers and didn't always make good decisions.

"But I certainly didn't think it was fair to get shot for making a bad decision," he said.

Court says the guys he was with rounded up some locals after the shooter left and they took him to hospital where he remained for the next six weeks. He says the injury to his foot was very serious and life changing. It required reconstructive surgery.

Court's mate who bought the drugs wasn't arrested.

Question:  You had no part in this purchase of the dope?

Answer: None whatsoever.

Q: It was your mates purchasing it, not you?

A: That's right.

Q: Have you declared all this to Act, did you declare it when everyone was required to say what their backgrounds were?

A: Yeah, I told David about what had happened, but, ya know, we agreed it wasn't material to the problems that are facing NZ and what I might be able to do to help solve them.  

"It was a very long time ago, I was a teenager, made a bad decision but you know, like a lot of teenagers, um who made bad decisions, most of them, most of them don't end up with any consequences, you know nothing happens and they learn. "

"I certainly learned a lesson, but I also got shot, teenagers don't deserve to get shot for making bad decisions."

Q: Were your mates prosecuted?

A: Nuh

Q: Even though they bought dope, they weren't prosecuted?

A: Nuh, and you know I mean even Helen Clark smoked dope so, you know I don't think that was ever mentioned, prosecution.

Q: What did you learn from this Simon?

A: Choose your friends wisely and ah, ya know, um be very, very careful about, um, the company you keep.

Act's tough law and order policy says New Zealanders deserve to feel safe in their communities.

Court's political boss David Seymour's relaxed about his MP's past.

"As far as I'm concerned, he hasn't actually committed a crime, um if he had, he wouldn't be the only teenager in New Zealand's that's bought weed and he'd be only of the very few who'd got shot in the foot with a shotgun as a result," he sniggered.

"Even if he was the one buying the dope, um, even Helen Clark has admitted to smoking weed at Uni, presumably it wasn't stolen," Seymour exclaimed.