Consultation on Firearms Registry

NZ Police has informed us that consultation has begun on August 31, 2022 on regulations to support the new legislation for the Firearms Registry.

They say they want to ensure the regulations are fit for purpose, and provide stakeholders, in particular firearms licence holders and dealers, the opportunity to understand and shape the proposed regulations.

The Arms Act was amended by the Arms Legislation Act 2020 to strengthen control and regulation of firearms, which includes creation of a Firearms Registry by June 2023.

The outcome they want is a system that reduces the potential for firearms harm and improves services to licence holders.

The scope of the consultation includes:

the specified arms items and the details on those items to be recorded in the Firearms Registry.
the obligations of licence holders and those in possession of specified arms items to provide information to Police for inclusion in the Firearms Registry.
associated provisions that support these changes, including a final date by which licence holders must have registered all their specified arms items.

Consultation does not cover the establishment of the Firearms Registry, access to the Registry by other Agencies, or offences related to the Registry, all of which are already set out in the Act.

The consultation closes on 12 October 2022.

Your feedback

NZ Police welcomes your feedback on the proposals. Follow this link for information about the proposals, and how to provide your feedback.

We also encourage you to share the proposal through your networks so that others have an opportunity to consider it and provide feedback.

Submissions will be analysed and final proposals will be developed for consideration by Cabinet.

NZ Police will be setting up question and answer sessions for stakeholders in the coming weeks and provide more details on these session in due course.