Firearms Official Information Act proactive public releases (May 2019)

Date Published

May 2019

In keeping with the Open Government Partnership National Action Plan 2016-2018, and as Administrator of the Arms Act 1983, Police is releasing its responses to some recent Official Information Act requests, where it is considered they contain data and information that has wider public interest.

For more information, go to Firearms and safety.

Reference	Date of request	Information requested
IR-01-19-1596 (PDF 576KB)	21 Dec 2018	How many firearms, sold to the public by the armed services, have later been found in the hands of criminals? List these arms.
IR-01-19-1435 (PDF 675KB)	15 Jan 2019	Can I please find out for each of the past five years (2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014 respectively) how many people have enrolled for the firearms safety programme? Can I please also get a break down for each of those five years of how many people passed and how many people failed? Can I please also get the same set of data regarding any renewal process involved in the firearms safety programme (how many in each of the five years and the pass/fail rate)?
IR-01-19-1195 (PDF 729KB)	15 Jan 2019	Between January 1 2018 and December 31 2018 (inclusive), how many firearms were reported stolen from licensed firearm holders? How many from licensed dealers? Please provide for each police district and what type of firearm. Between January 1 2018 and December 31 2018 (inclusive), how many firearms were reported stolen from unlicensed firearm holders and dealers? Please provide for each police district and what type of firearm. Between January 1 2018 and December 31 2018 (inclusive), how many firearms were seized by police? Please provide for each police district and what type of firearm. Between January 1 2018 and December 31 2018 (inclusive), how many firearms reported stolen were later recovered by police and returned to their owners? Please provide for each police district and what type of firearm. Of those firearms returned, what year were they reported missing?
IR-01-19-5842 (PDF 694KB)	27 Feb 2019	How many call-outs have police been to in the past year where firearms have been located? How many call-outs have police been to in the past year where firearms have been used by an alleged offender? How many call-outs have police been to in the past year where firearms had to be used by police officers for either protection or against an armed offender? Can EACH call-out be categorised under the appropriate category: ie. burglaries, robberies, property search, pursuit, failure to stop for officers, etc.
IR-01-19-6190 (PDF 673KB)	1 Mar 2019	How many times in the years 2015, 2016 and 2018 were firearms presented at police officers? Did any of the incidents involved licensed firearm owners? If so, how many? How many were imitation firearms? How many times were police fired upon? How many police officers were injured in these incidents? How many members of the public were injured in these incidents? I’d like all of these broken down by year, please. How many times have police armed frontline staff in the past five years. When, where and why, for each arming? How many firearms does police have (broken down by pistols, bushrangers/rifles and any other firearms). I require a comparison to the number of firearms (broken down by type) police had in 2008.
IR-01-19-6227 (PDF 1.4MB)	1 Mar 2019	The number of visitor firearms licences issued and declined for the past 5 years broken down into month and year, age group, nationality and the reason for declining it? The number of firearm licences issued and or declined to 16, 17 and 18-year-olds in NZ for the past 5 years broken down into month and year, gender, region/city and the reason for declining it? The number of firearm licences that's been revoked or where the holder has been deemed unfit to carry a firearm for the past 5 years also broken down into month and year, region/city and the reason for revoking it.
IR-01-19-6719 (PDF 335KB)	4 Mar 2019	Follow up to IR-01-19-1419 How many of these seized arms were actual firearms? Not airsoft toys or airguns. How many were arms that discharge a project by force of explosive gases?
IR-01-19-6384 (PDF 521KB)	4 Mar 2019	Under the Official Information Act, I’d like to know the average length of time it took for people to obtain a firearms license in 2017 and 2018. I’d also like to know the shortest, and longest, length of time it took for someone to get a license. Further to this, I’d like to know how many people applied for a license, and how many were accepted or declined, during 2017 and 2018. If the renewal of a license is different to obtaining a new license, I’d also like to know the average length of time it took for people to renew their license, and again, the shortest and longest length of time it took to renew, in 2017 and 2018.
IR-01-19-7914 (PDF 350KB)	18 Mar 2019	How many licensed firearms holders are there in Taranaki? How many 'E' category license holders are there in Taranaki?
IR-01-19-8319 (PDF 656KB)	22 Mar 2019	Regarding the statement about the Christchurch terror attack, in your statement you said the accused provided two further referees who met the requirements. According to the form, one referee needs to be a spouse, partner, or next of kin that is domiciled in New Zealand. How did you check that the accused was in a relationship or related to this person? If it turns out there was a lie written on the form and due diligence was not taken in the checks, will charges be made against the person/ people police interviewed? Will any police officers be censured if it turns out that incorrect information was put on the form, and not properly researched? What checks are in place to ensure people are not lying/ all information supplied is correct when obtaining their gun license? Can you please tell me what the threshold is for “knowing someone well” as stated on the gun license application form? Can you please tell me the number of people, who do not have New Zealand citizenship or residency visas hold a New Zealand gun license? How many people on short term visas to New Zealand hold gun licenses? How many people on student visas hold New Zealand gun licenses? Is it a requirement that police talk to each referee for gun licenses face to face, and how do you confirm that has happened?