The head of the Firearms Safety Authority (Te Tari Pūreke) is pleased an external review of the Firearms Registry has found it helps to protect the public from harm and that it should continue.
Acting Executive Director, Superintendent Richard Wilson, says the Ministry of Justice review shines a light on hard work behind the scenes to keep communities and frontline Police safe from the risk of firearms harm.
“The Firearms Registry is less than two years into a five-year implementation programme and it’s really clear what the benefits are,” says Superintendent Wilson.
“The Registry is an essential part of a bigger system to deal with firearms harm in our communities. It is designed to mitigate the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands through greater transparency and accountability when firearms are imported, manufactured, bought and sold.
“It gives frontline Police access to real-time information to support risk assessments about firearms in a property or vehicle when they’re responding to critical incidents. It also supports the work of Police intelligence and criminal investigations.
“The majority of firearms licence holders are good law-abiding people. Unfortunately, there are still a few who divert firearms to unlicensed offenders. The Registry is a significant tool to support Police to detect this offending. Over time the Registry will increasingly make it more difficult for firearms to move from lawful hands into the black market of unlicensed people, including gangs, extremists, or criminals.
“The Registry also helps licence holders have more confidence when buying or selling firearms. They can check firearms have not been stolen.
“We know from daily engagement with licence holders that most are fit and proper to use a firearm, understand their obligations and have no trouble meeting them. There are strong levels of compliance with the Registry. I acknowledge all licence holders who have filled in the Registry so far and are doing their bit to make it harder for criminals to access firearms.
“We have just passed an important milestone where more than one-third (36 percent) of all licence holders have now entered their details into the Registry. A significant proportion, around 24,000 licence holders or 29 percent of those registered, did so proactively without waiting for an activating event. An activating event could be renewing a licence, buying or selling a firearm, or moving address.
“We have invested a lot of time and effort into working alongside licence holders to help them meet their legal obligations. The results of the Registry Review show the engagement and partnership is paying off.
“It provides a useful stocktake at an early stage of implementation and confirms the Registry’s public safety impact. We will continue to drive enhancements across the whole firearms system. There is always room for improvement, within our overall funding and resource constraints,” said Superintendent Wilson.
In summary, the Review’s main findings for the Authority are:
- the Firearms Registry should continue as planned;
- early indications show the Registry contributes to public safety;
- diversion of firearms to the black market is a threat to public safety and the Registry mitigates that risk;
- the Registry has been cost-effective;
- the Registry meets government standards for security of personal information;
- Registry requirements for licence holders are necessary, appropriate and streamlined;
- Police and the Authority could improve reporting of some monitoring and evaluation data, and report on any operational improvements that could be made within current budgets.
The Government has also made decisions around existing Regulations due to take effect from 24 June 2025. These are:
- Cabinet has confirmed the purchase of ammunition becomes an activating circumstance for firearms licence holders after 24 June 2025.
- Cabinet has confirmed ammunition sellers and licensed dealers must record sales of ammunition to licence holders in the Firearms Registry from 24 June 2025.
- Cabinet has agreed to defer the obligation for firearms dealers to register all of the arms items in their possession, until June 2027.
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- The Registry by the numbers [1 May 2025]
- 81,400 individual licence holders registered (36% of active licence holders).
- 400,143 firearms and 13,742 firearms parts registered to known locations and licence holders.
- Almost 89% of registered firearms and parts are non-prohibited, or standard “A-Cat” firearms such as rifles and shotguns. For the first time Police are able to understand where these firearms are being held in our communities, and when they are swapping hands. The remainder include pistols, prohibited firearms or restricted weapons.
- 229,022 active individual licence holders.
- 426 firearms dealer licences. A dealer licence allows a person to sell, hire, lend or supply arms items; repair or modify items; manufacture items; display items in a bona fide museum; and possess items for auction.
- Around 99% of licence holders who registered after an activating circumstance did so within required time frames and avoided escalation to enforcement action, like suspension of their licence. Just 28 people had their firearms licence revoked where registry non-compliance was a factor or one of several factors.
These numbers are drawn from a dynamic database and are subject to update or revision.