14 November 2025

Firearms licence holders have achieved a significant milestone with more than half of the licensed population now included in the Firearms Registry.

The Firearms Safety Authority - Te Tari Pūreke says the 50 per cent mark was achieved sometime during Wednesday 12 November when 112,242 active individual licence holders were recorded in the Registry, from a total population of 224,221 active individual licence holders. * 

“The strong uptake of the Registry is a tribute to all the licence holders involved. We acknowledge everyone who is doing their bit to make it harder for criminals to access firearms,” said Angela Brazier, Executive Director of the Authority.

“A significant proportion of those registered, 36,600 licence holders or more than 32 percent of those registered, did so proactively without waiting for an activating circumstance. 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. 

​​"Registering a firearm is just another aspect of being a fit and proper licence holder in New Zealand, like keeping firearms secure, transporting them correctly, or using them safely and responsibly.”  

“Licence holders have a key role to play filling in the Registry and keeping their information up to date. The Firearms Registry, when full, will provide a complete record of all lawfully held arms items in New Zealand,” said Angela Brazier.

The Firearms Registry went live on 24 June 2023, and licence holders have till 31 August 2028 to register their details, unless they have an activating circumstance before that time such as buying a firearm or ammunition, changing address or renewing their licence.

ENDS

* The term ‘active individual licence holder’ excludes firearms dealer licences and international visitor licences. It also excludes people who have registered in the past but who no longer hold a firearms licence and are considered inactive.

Note to Editors:

By the numbers

The 50 percent milestone was passed sometime during the day on Wednesday 12 November. On that day, 319 individuals registered their firearms and licence details, and between them registered 871 firearms.

Firearms Registry staff supported 166 licence holders to register over the phone during the day, and 153 completed registration themselves through the self-service option on the Authority’s website. Registering online is the quickest and easiest way to register your firearms and can be done 24/7.

There are more than 548,000 firearms and more than 16,000 firearms parts recorded in the Registry against active individual licence holders. Around 90 percent of total registered firearms and parts relate to so-called A-Cat arms items, or standard rifles and shotguns.  Almost six percent of registered firearms and parts are classified as pistols. Less than three percent are classified as prohibited such as those used by approved pest controllers in the course of their work or held by collectors under special conditions.

The Registry

The Registry is 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.

When complete it will link all lawfully held firearms to individual licence holders, improving visibility and accountability when firearms are moving around the community. 

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 Registry supports Police to detect offending such as diversion to unlicensed offenders. Over time the Registry will increasingly make it more difficult for firearms to move from lawful hands into the black market.

The Registry also helps licence holders have more confidence when buying or selling firearms. They can check firearms have not been stolen.  

Licence holders who are coming up to their Registry obligations but who no longer wish to possess a firearm can surrender the item and their licence through a number of channels. More details about disposing of unwanted firearms are on our website here.

An external review of the Firearms Registry by the Ministry of Justice in May 2025 found it contributes to public safety and should continue; that diversion of firearms to the black market is a threat to public safety and the Registry mitigates that risk; it has been cost-effective; it meets government standards for security of personal information; and requirements for licence holders are necessary, appropriate and streamlined.