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Gun law in New Zealand

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About 230,000 licensed firearms owners, and hundreds of thousands of people without licences, own and use New Zealand's estimated 1.1 million firearms.[1] Like in Australia, but unlike in the US and Canada, gun laws usually gain the support of both major parties before they are passed. Guns are not currently a major political issue, but have been immediately after the Aramoana massacre in 1990, and the Scottish Dunblane and Australian Port Arthur massacres in 1996.

Current firearm law[2]

New Zealand's gun laws are notably more liberal than other countries in the Pacific, focusing mainly on vetting firearm owners, rather than registering firearms or banning certain types of firearms. Firearms legislation is provided for in the Arms Act and its associated regulations, though stricter unofficial police and government policies also apply[citation needed].

Categories of firearms

Firearms in New Zealand fall into one of four categories:

Registration is not required for "A Category" firearms, but firearms in any other category require both registration and a "permit to procure" before they are transferred.

Except under supervision of a licence holder, owning or using firearms requires a firearms licence from the police. The licence is normally issued, under the conditions that the applicant has secure storage for firearms, attends a safety lecture and passes a written test. The police will also interview the applicant and two references (one must be a close relative and the other not related) to determine whether the applicant is "fit and proper" to have a firearm. The applicants residence is also visited to check that they have appropriate storage for firearms and ammunition. Having criminal associations or a history of domestic violence almost always lead to a licence being declined.

A standard firearms licence allows the use of "A Category" firearms. To possess 'Restricted Weapons' a person needs to get an endorsement to their licence. There are different endorsements for different classes of firearm but they all require a higher level of storage security, stricter vetting requirements and the applicant must have a 'special reason' for wanting the endorsement.

Each endorsement type has additional requirements

B Endorsement - Sporting pistols

  • Applicant must be a current member of a pistol club, a financial member of Pistol New Zealand and have attended at least 12 club shoots in the last 6 months before they can apply
  • Applicant must be sponsored by their club
  • The endorsement holder must attend at least 12 club shoots in a financial year
  • Normally limited to no more that 12 pistols registered to their licence
  • Pistols must be of an approved sporting type i.e. barrel length of more than 10cm
  • Pistols can only be carried to and from the range in a locked container with ammuntion in a separate container or to a gunsmith
  • Pistols may only be shot on a Police approved pistol club range.

C Endorsement - Restricted Weapons

This is a catch all, if the firearm does not fall into the A B or E categories it's a C class. Common special reasons include:

  • Collecting (must provide evidence in the form of books, club membership, collection of A type firearms), Museum curator, Family heirlooms and Theatrical.
  • C category firearms must be stored in an inoperable condition
  • Can never be used with live ammunition, but blanks are allowed for movie making and re-enacting
  • Can only be taken to an approved display venue, re-enactment event or to a other collector for sale.

D Endorsement - Dealers licence

For those that make an income from firearms. To sell restricted weapons the dealer also needs to have the appropriate endorsements.

  • Renewed annually
  • Further security requirements
  • Must maintain a book of firearm purchases and sales.

E Endorsement - Military Style Semi-Automatics (M.S.S.A)

New class of restricted weapon that was created after the Aramoana tragedy. At the time anyone with an M.S.S.A that wanted to keep it in that configuration was given a E endorsement (after going through the vetting and extra security requirements). But presently few are issued. Common reasons for wanting an E endorsement are professional pest destruction, collecting, 3-gun and service rifle shooting. Those people that did not want the extra hassle and expense of the endorsement converted their rifles into 'A' configuration by removing the components that made it an 'E'.

Buying and selling

Anyone buying firearms or ammunition, whether privately or from a dealer, needs to show their firearms licence. In addition, a permit to procure must be obtained prior to the transfer of pistols, military-style semi-automatics and restricted weapons. Sales can be made by mail-order, but a police officer must sign the order form to verify that the purchaser has a firearms licence.

History[3]

Firearms first arrived in New Zealand with European settlers, and were traded in large numbers to the native Maori. This lead partly to the Musket Wars of the early 19th century. The first gun control laws were enacted in 1845, but early regulations were ineffective until the passage of the Arms Act in 1860, which required licences and registration of firearms and firearm dealers. Early laws were mainly targeted at Maori during the land wars in the Waikato and Taranaki, and were largely suspended at the end of the 1880s. By about 1910 the laws were largely ignored and unenforced, as crime and the threat of political unrest were minimal.

Strikes in 1912 and 1913, a Communist revolution in Russia, and large numbers of ex-military guns coming into the country after the First World War led the government to pass a new law in 1920. The new law required the registration of all firearms and issuance of a "permit to procure" before a firearm was transferred. Automatic pistols were banned and a special permit was needed for other pistols, with the intent of discouraging the carrying of concealed weapons. Few changes were seen for the next forty years as crime remained low and the country avoided political violence.

Increasing gun crime in the 1960s led to greater police use of registration records, which were generally inaccurate or out-of-date. A project to check the register began in 1967, and found that 66 percent of entries were inaccurate in some way, with many guns not be found at all. Police thought that the register was largely useless, and that substantial resources would be needed to keep it up-to-date. It was believed that the government would be unlikely to provide the resources required to update the register and that it would be politically difficult to demand registration information from firearm owners. Various new laws were introduced in the 1970s and 80s, proposing more government checks, registration of shotguns (which had been abandoned) and individual licensing.

An internal police report in 1982 criticised the proposals, saying there was no evidence that registration helped to solve crimes, and that registration would use time and money better spent on other police work. This policy was adopted by the government in the 1983 Act.

The 1983 Arms Act

The 1983 Arms Act abandoned registration for most long guns, as Parliament felt it was prohibitively expensive and not particularly useful. The philosophy of the new system was to control users, rather than firearms. Police were required to conduct a background check before a licence would be issued (though existing owners would be issued a licence automatically), but once a person had a licence there was no requirement to register long guns or obtain permits to procure when they were sold or lent.

Special restrictions applied to restricted weapons and pistols, which needed to be registered. Self-defence was no longer a valid reason to have a pistol, but the new sport of target pistol shooting was becoming rapidly more popular, and pistol club shooters could own pistols with a special endorsement.

Aramoana and the 1992 Amendments

After the Aramoana massacre in November 1990, John Banks, the Minister for Police, announced that the government would ban what he and others described as "Rambo-style" weapons and substantially tighten gun laws generally. The law was eventually passed in 1992, somewhat unusually without the support of the leftist Labour opposition, and required written permits to order guns or ammunition mail-order, restricted ammunition sales to firearms licence holders, added photographs to firearms licences, required licence holders to have secure storage for firearms at their homes (which would be inspected before a licence was issued), and controversially required all licence holders to be re-vetted for new licences which would be valid for only 10 years.

The law also created the new category of "military-style semi-automatic", which like the later Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the United States, mainly covered the appearance rather than the functionality of the guns. These required a special endorsement, security and registration in the same manner as pistols, but could be used wherever A-category guns could.

The Thorp Report to today

After two shootings by police in 1995, the government ordered an inquiry into police procedures for storing and using firearms. Before the review started, massacres overseas at Dunblane massacre and Port Arthur led the government to expand the scope to gun control generally. The police reported that the system was sound and that no major changes were needed.

The government decided to order another report, this time led by former judge Thomas Thorp. The report was released in 1997 and called for many new restrictions on legal gun ownership, including banning various features, and particularly unpopular amongst firearm owners, that all guns be registered.

The National government in 1999, its last year in office, introduced an Arms Amendment (No. 2) Bill to implement the recommendations, and the bill was supported by the new Labour government. After the strong weight of submissions made against the bill when it was in select committee the government was persuaded that the changes were unneeded and would be difficult to implement. Due to the opposition, the bill was withdrawn. The government then introduced a much reduced Arms Amendment (No. 3) Bill which increased penalties for distribution, manufacture and use of illegal weapons. It is currently in select committee and due back on 30 April 2008.

Notable groups

Government groups

The New Zealand Police are responsible for enforcing the Arms Act and various unofficial government policies (such as not increasing the number of E-category registered MSSAs beyond about 8,500).[4] The Police tend to lobby around their own access to guns, as the service is normally unarmed.

Outdoor safety

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council is a federation of organizations with an interest in outdoor safety, including a number of sporting groups, DOC, the New Zealand Police and Defence Force, OSH and ACC.[5] It is responsible for safety education,[6] and volunteers run the safety courses taken by firearms licence applicants.[7] It also runs more specialized courses on hunting safely, first aid, and other outdoor recreational safety issues.

Pro-Gun groups

The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO), formed in 1996 and currently led by John Howat, is a lobby group that works closely with the government. Politically, it supports the existing laws, and it is the usual "pro-gun" spokesgroup to the media.

The Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand is a part-time lobby group that is usually only active at elections and when there are government calls for gun control laws. It is smaller and more radical than COLFO.

Gun control groups

The two major gun control groups in recent years have been the Coalition for Gun Control, and Gunsafe NZ. Both are no longer active, but were led by anti-gun activist Philip Alpers and former police officer Mike Meyrick.

Alpers now works for the University of Sydney, promoting gun control across the Pacific.

Political parties

The main parties, Labour and National, generally treat gun control as a bi-partisan issue. Both support the passage of the Arms Amendment (No. 3) Bill.

The Libertarianz party advocates the ownership of guns for self-defence.[8]

The Outdoor Recreation party was formed in 2001 to support hunting and sport fishing. It failed to gain any seats in 2002, and again in 2005, when, with the United Future party, it contested the election. The Progressive Party supports further gun control.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kiwis go for the big guns", Dominion Post, Tuesday 7 November 2006. Quoted at [1]
  2. ^ From the Arms Code
  3. ^ based on the history given in Thorp, T.M.: "Review of Firearms Control in New Zealand", 1997
  4. ^ "Kiwis go for the big guns", Dominion Post, Tuesday 7 November 2006. Quoted at [2]
  5. ^ Mountain Safety Council Introductory Pamphlet
  6. ^ New Zealand Mountain Safety Council About Us
  7. ^ New Zealand Mountain Safety Council Public Courses Firearms
  8. ^ Libertarianz - Firearms
  9. ^ New Zealand Progressive Political Party - Content
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