Firearms Official Information Act proactive public releases (March 2020)

Date Published

March 2020

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-01-19-8902 (PDF 1.63MB)	27 Mar 2019	Information relating to the development and any subsequent review of the police Firearms Licence vetting process including: Advice received both internal (police) and external sources (expert advice) on the objectives and form of questions to be asked of applicants, near relative, referees. Reviews of the objectives and form of questions to be asked of applicants, near relative, referees. Questionnaires from the implementation of the Arms Act 1983 to date (and any iteration that incorporates a significant review/change i.e. minor adjustments/typographical corrections etc are not required) used by vetting staff for interviews with applicants, near relative and referees.
IR-01-19-9376 (PDF 680KB)	1 Apr 2019	How many Australian citizens or prior residents have applied for a New Zealand firearms license in the last 10 years (broken down by year and citizenship or residency) Out of how many of these applications has the New Zealand Police requested a criminal records check from Australian authorities? How many licenses have been issued in the last 10 years, where the holder was later found to have had a criminal record in Australia? (broken down by year) How many have these license holders have gone on to commit a criminal offense involving a firearm in New Zealand? Was an Australian criminal check requested for Brenton Tarrant before he was granted his firearms license?
IR-01-19-9748 (PDF 683KB)	4 Apr 2019	Would you please provide available statistics on: the number of privately owned firearms that are lost or stolen each year; and the number of firearms that have been lost by, or stolen from, the Police.
IR-01-19-10517 (PDF 1.1MB)	8 Apr 2019	My colleague and I are seeking historical information about numbers of licensed firearms owners by Police District. I’m writing to ask if you can please supply data from 2000 to the present, showing number of licensed firearms owners in each district by year. If you have a further breakdown by licence endorsements, that information would be very welcome, but not essential, please.
IR-01-19-10515 (PDF 672KB)	9 Apr 2019	I would like to learn of the number of offences recorded nationwide against the following sections of the Arms Act (1983) for the most recent decade. The year, be it calendar, fiscal or financial doesn't matter, whichever is easiest for you.
IR-01-19-10292 (PDF 980KB)	9 Apr 2019	How many firearms seizures did police make in 2017? How many people do the firearms seizures relate to? How many firearms seizures did police make in 2018? How many people do the firearms seizures relate to? How many firearms seizures did police make in 2019 – prior to March 19 How many arrests were made in relation to the firearms seizures?
IR-01-19-12394 (PDF 9.14MB)	3 May 2019	Could I please get the number of application for gun licences for the past five years - from 2019 to 2015 Could I please get that broken down into months and regions, and gender? Could I please get applications that were accepted - broken down by months, regions & gender for the same amount of time? Could I please get the amount of applications rejected by months, region & age for the same period? Can I please get the reasons applications were not accepted? Could I please largest amount time of times someone has been denied? And for what reasons? And the region they are from? Could I please get the get the age of the oldest holder of a gun licence and also the youngest? Anything else you could offer me about this topic would be appreciated.
IR-01-19-13691 (PDF 577KB)	15 May 2019	Since 1992 when the E Category classification for firearms was created, how many E Category firearms have been used in a criminal offence? Note: Please do not include those MSSA that are classified as an A Category firearm. Of the above criminal offences if any that involved the use of an E Category firearm, how many of those were committed by the registered E Category Licensed firearm owner? How many E Category firearms have been stolen since 1992? How many of those stolen E Category firearms have been proven to be used in the commission of a criminal offence?
IR-01-19-15605 (PDF 1.31MB)	5 Jun 2019	How many gun licences have been revoked since March 15, and how many have been surrendered? Can I please have this by district with a national total? How many gun licences were revoked and how many surrendered each year since 2014? Can I please have this by district with a national total? Also how many people who have reported they had illegal guns to hand in have been raided since March 15.
IR-01-19-23336	21 Jun 2019	I am looking to ascertain how many applications (new and renewals) for firearms have been made in New Zealand after March 15 2019.
IR-01-19-19935 (PDF 470KB)	22 Jul 2019	How many gun license holders have been convicted of a firearm crime in the last ten years? How many in the last five years of their ten year license – during this same period.
IR-01-19-23454 (PDF 814KB)	26 Aug 2019	I have been told that: A Wellington Arms Officer that was found not to have completed a great MANY vetting processes correctly due to massive backlog. He just signed off on the applications to clear the overload. When the failure came to light he was asked to resign. No effort was made to vet the licenses he had issued as Police management (Wellington District Commander) when informed and asked 'what do we do with this issue'?, said 'it would be too much work' and that it would be easier to leave them until license renewals were required and re-vet them then. The Palmerston North Police station evidence locker had a history of being broken into before the criminal managed to rob them of 11 firearms. Historic firearm thieves were internal, including more than one Senior Sargent from the station. They were ‘moved on’ from what I am told. Is there any truth to these allegations?