Public consultation on the Arms Act rewrite

Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice and New Zealand Police are responsible for different parts of the firearms regulatory system.

The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the administration of the Act, oversight for the laws relating to the firearms regulatory system, and for making recommendations to the Government of the day about changes required.

Minister’s Arms Advisory Group

The purpose of the MAAG is to advise the Minister responsible for the firearms portfolio on matters that contribute to achieving the objectives of the Act, particularly safe use and control of firearms.

The MAAG may also provide advice on other matters relating to firearms in New Zealand. The Act requires that the MAAG is made up of a chairperson and up to 8 other members. The Act requires that the members of MAAG must be a balance of people from both the firearms-owning and the non-firearms-owning community.

New Zealand Police

New Zealand Police is responsible for compliance and enforcement of the Act to keep our communities safe. Police does this through two streams of work:

• Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority, housed within Police. The FSA works with licence holders and potential licence holders, dealers, and shooting clubs and shooting ranges to support legal activities including imports, sales, purchases, transfers, transport, storage, use, export, and destruction
• Other Police teams, including frontline constabulary and the National Organised Crime Group. These teams are responsible for preventing crime, seizing illegal firearms and other weapons, carrying out intelligence activities, criminal investigations, and enforcing the law. Frontline police officers are responsible for addressing illegal firearms use and enforcement.

FSA as the regulator

The FSA is responsible for overseeing the legal use of firearms in New Zealand and supporting firearms licence holders to comply with the law.

It ensures that possession of firearms is limited to those who are fit and proper to possess firearms and who comply with their legal obligations. As covered earlier in this document, its activities include:

• licensing and endorsements: processing applications, vetting applicants, interviews, security checks, assessing fit and proper persons and issuing licences, supporting dealers and their activities
• clubs and ranges: processing applications for club approvals and range certifications, conducting inspections and issuing improvement notices
• imports: issuing permits to import firearms and associated items
• the Firearms Registry: managing the Registry, providing data access and call centre support
• compliance monitoring: eligibility scanning, conducting compliance visits, updating changes to personal information, handling expired / deceased licences, checking storage conditions, managing health practitioner reporting
• resolutions: issuing improvement notices, temporary suspensions, revocations, and reviews / appeals.

The FSA has tools to support legitimate users to comply with the law, and to deter and prevent diversion (supply of firearms products to non-licenced users), and the illegal modification of firearms. This includes actions such as issuing improvement notices, temporarily suspending and revoking firearms licences.

The FSA also has an important education and engagement role. The FSA supports the firearms and non-firearms communities to understand risks associated with the possession and use of firearms products and best practice. This includes engaging with the Firearms Community Advisory Forum and Arms Engagement Group.

These groups have been established by the Police to act in consultative and advisory capacities to the Police. These are not groups that have a role or function specified in the Arms Act.

The FSA works with wider Police to support lawful possession and use

Police officers are responsible for law enforcement activity, including:

• conducting firearms criminal investigations
• enforcing Firearms Prohibition Orders
• exercising warrantless powers of search and seizure involving illegally held firearms
• responding to firearms-related emergencies and receiving information about firearm injuries.

The FSA and wider Police work together to keep our communities and frontline Police officers safe. This requires the FSA and wider Police to share information because:

• Police requires information from the FSA about who is licensed to possess firearms, the types of firearms they possess, and the location of those firearms to mitigate potential risks. Police also supports the FSA by serving suspension notices where firearms need to be uplifted and storing and managing seized and surrendered firearms
• the FSA requires Police to share law enforcement information to support its initial and ongoing considerations of whether an applicant or licence holder is a fit and proper person to hold a firearm.

Examples of how this works in practice include:

• the FSA must inform Police when a licence has been suspended or revoked, which may result in Police seizing firearms products under the Search and Surveillance Act 2012
• Police must inform the FSA when it has issued a Police Safety Order to protect victims and their families so that the FSA can suspend a firearms licence under the Family Violence Act 2018
• the FSA must inform relevant district Police when it has authorised the holding of a gun show in that district to avoid Police initiating enforcement action.

While the FSA, the Police, and the Ministry of Justice are the key agencies that have responsibilities relating to the firearms regulatory system, other agencies also have responsibilities that relate to the possession and use of firearms products.

Agencies that have firearms-related responsibilities include:

• New Zealand Customs Service (Customs): responsible for monitoring the border to ensure that goods, including firearms products, imported into and exported from New Zealand comply with the Customs and Excise Act 2018 at the point of import or export. This includes whether import and export comply with New Zealand laws. Customs works closely with the FSA to ensure requirements relating to imports under the Act are complied with
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT): responsible for regulating the export of firearms, parts, accessories, and ammunition. MFAT also ensures that any export is consistent with New Zealand’s international obligations, including under treaties to which New Zealand is a party. For firearms, this primarily relates to New Zealand’s obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty. Firearms licence holders may export up to five sporting firearms and associated ammunition without an export permit, provided they notify MFAT’s Export Controls team. This is provided for in the Customs Export Prohibition (Strategic Goods) Order 2021 that puts controls on the export of strategic goods. The Order is made under the Customs and Excise Act 2018
• The Department of Conservation (DOC): responsible for facilitating recreational and commercial hunting opportunities through concessions and permits. Permits are required to legally hunt on public conservation land.