The Firearms Registry was launched one year ago today to help improve firearms oversight and safety by providing a record of all lawfully held firearms.
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority Executive Director, Angela Brazier, says the one-year anniversary of the Firearms Registry is an opportunity to look at progress on the five-year journey to fully populate the Registry.
“More than 220,000 firearms have been registered by more than 46,000 licence holders.
This is 20 percent of all licence holders and is a significant milestone at the one-year mark.”
Around 30 percent of those who have registered have done so proactively without waiting for an activating circumstance.
The Firearms Registry was about closing a gap in the system and was one of the reforms following the March 2019 terror attack in Christchurch. When complete it will link all lawfully held firearms to an individual licence holder, improving visibility and accountability when firearms are moving around the community.
Angela Brazier says, “Registering a firearm is just another aspect of being a responsible firearms licence holder in New Zealand, like keeping firearms secure, transporting them correctly, or using them safely and responsibly.”
In June, the government announced details of the review of the Firearms Registry.
Brazier says, “while the Ministry of Justice review is underway it is important that licence holders keep complying with their legal obligations because the law has not changed.
“This means licence holders must continue to enter and update details in the Registry when they have an activating circumstance, like changing address or buying or selling a firearm or parts.”
As the Registry links lawfully held firearms with licence holders, this will mitigate the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands by disrupting one of the pathways that criminals acquire firearms.
Alongside other Police initiatives to target organised criminal groups and gangs, the Registry will ultimately make the flow of firearms to the black market more difficult once it is fully rolled out.
