Licence holders are required to provide information about themselves and all arms items in their possession for the Firearms Registry.

Arms items that must be recorded in the Registry

You must register all the following arms items in your possession:

  • non-prohibited firearms, including specially dangerous airguns
  • prohibited firearms and magazines
  • pistols
  • restricted weapons
  • major firearm parts (that are not integrated into a firearm)
  • pistol carbine conversion kits (PCCKs).

A major firearm part is:

  • the action (frame, receiver, or upper receiver and lower receiver) of a firearm
  • the frame of a pistol, or
  • a calibre conversion component or kit of a pistol.

Firearms that do not currently work still need to be recorded in the Registry.

You will not be charged a fee to register.

Note: The group of arms items you must record in the Registry are defined in regulation 36 of the Arms Regulations 1992. This is a special definition just for the purposes of the Registry. It includes fewer items than the Arms Act 1983 definition of ‘arms item’.

Arms Regulations 1992, Regulation 36 – Interpretation | New Zealand Legislation website

If you're a dealer's licence holder

Dealer's licence holders will be required to record their stock of arms items in the Registry by 24 June 2025.

The exact date you’ll be required to do this will depend on when the Commissioner decides you should be brought into the Registry, and the type and frequency of your dealer activities.

If you’re a dealer's licence holder, you can expect Te Tari Pūreke to contact you with more information about what you need to do.

You must register items for which you have a permit

You are required to register all arms items in your possession, including those you have a permit for.

If you have an endorsement on your firearms licence, any arms item you have a permit for is recorded in the Police National Intelligence Application (NIA). The details of these items will not be transferred into the Firearms Registry as we need different information to meet the requirements of the Regulations.

Arms items that do not need to be recorded in the Registry

Airguns

You do not need to register airguns (unless they are a specially dangerous airgun).

Definition of a 'specially dangerous airgun'

The following airguns have been declared to be ‘specially dangerous airguns’ and are treated in the same way as firearms under the Arms Act 1983:

  • Larc International Model 19A and the Larc International Model M19-AMP
  • pre-charged pneumatic air rifles, other than airguns that are designed for use in airsoft or paintball sports and are in the same configuration as when they were manufactured.

Ammunition

Individual firearms licence holders will not be required to register ammunition in their possession. You also will not need to record sales or purchases of ammunition to or from other firearms licence holders.

Antique firearms

You do not need to register antique firearms.

When a firearm is considered an antique

An antique firearm is any firearm that:

  • you hold solely as an antique (but not as a copy or replica of an antique), and
  • is not designed for firing, and is not capable of firing, rimfire or centrefire cartridge ammunition, or
  • has been declared by regulations made under this Act to be an antique firearm for the purposes of this Act, but
  • does not include any firearm manufactured after 1899.

Arms Act 1983, section 2 – Interpretation | New Zealand Legislation website

Other firearm parts

The only parts you need to register are major firearm parts.

You do not need to register other parts, such as suppressors or scopes.

Specified firearms

You do not need to register certain specified firearms that a person can possess without a licence.

The items are:

  • bolt guns or a stud guns
  • humane killers
  • tranquilliser guns
  • stock marking pistols
  • underwater spear guns
  • flare pistols
  • deer net guns
  • pistols that are part of rocket or line-throwing equipment
  • miniature cannons
  • dog-training dummy launchers
  • improvised explosive device disrupters.

Arms Regulations 1992, Regulation 36 – Interpretation | New Zealand Legislation website

If you share an arms item with other people

Arms items can only be recorded in the Registry once, against a single firearms licence. This includes firearms owned by an organisation or business.

If you share possession of a firearm – for example, with a family member who lives at the same address – the person who uses it most should register it. If your organisation or business has arms items, they should be registered by the licence holder responsible for them. If you have multiple arms items, they can be registered by different licence holders.

If you’re responsible for an arms item on behalf of a shooting club or range, you’re also responsible for recording it in the Registry.

If you supply an arms item registered to you to another licence holder, you are responsible for checking that their firearms licence is current. You may also be required to transfer possession in the Registry if it will be in their possession for 30 days or more, or the arms item requires a permit to possess.

Once an arms item is in another licence holder’s possession, that person is then responsible for meeting their obligations under the Arms Act 1983, regardless of who has registered it.

If your business has employees who use firearms for work purposes, you will also have responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

How to transfer possession in the Registry

If you have loaned or stored an arms item with someone else

If you possess a non-prohibited firearm and it is being stored with or loaned to another licence holder for less 30 days, it must still be recorded against your licence in the Registry.

If it will be in another licence holder’s possession for 30 days or more, it must be recorded against their licence.

Temporary transfers of pistols, prohibited firearms, prohibited magazines, and restricted weapons must all be recorded in the Registry.

How to transfer possession in the Registry

If you have an arms item but do not have a firearms licence

You cannot register an arms item without a firearms licence.

If you have a firearm or other arms item and you do not have a firearms licence, you can pass it on to a firearms licence holder, firearms dealer, or you could surrender it to Police.

Disposal of illegally held or unwanted firearms

If you possess arms items for or on behalf of an organisation

If you possess firearms or arms items for or on behalf of an organisation, such as a shooting club, range, or business, you’re responsible for recording the firearms in the Registry, even if these items are stored at a location away from your home storage. These firearms must be recorded in the Registry against your own firearms licence.

You also need to give us details of where these firearms are stored if the firearms you possess on behalf of an organisation are stored in a different location to any firearms that you own personally.

If an organisation has secure storage at more than one location, you must provide address details for the usual location(s) where arms items are stored. You are not required to provide details of which firearms are held at each location.

If you have not yet had to register any firearms in your possession and also possess firearms for, or on behalf of, an organisation you must record all firearms in the Registry when either:

  • you have an activating circumstance, or
  • you have an activating circumstance due to activity related to an organisation firearm already in your possession or coming into your possession.

If you've already registered all your firearms in your possession, but not the organisations firearms you must provide details for the Registry as soon as is practicable.

If you receive additional firearms to possess on behalf of your organisation from another person you need to ensure a transfer of these firearms is completed in the Registry.  If you receive a firearm from a licensed firearms dealer, you must record the firearm directly into the Registry. 

How to transfer possession in the Registry

Your licence holder details in the Registry

When you provide information for the Registry, you must make sure the details we have for you as a firearms licence holder are complete and up to date.

These details are:

  • name
  • date of birth
  • contact phone number
  • email address
  • residential address
  • postal address (if different to your residential address)
  • number and date of expiry of their firearms licence
  • date of expiry of every endorsement on the licence
  • every condition on the licence and endorsements additional to conditions imposed by the Act or these regulations
  • whether you are an ammunition seller
  • details of the locations approved by Police for the secure storage of arms items and ammunition, including those you are responsible for on behalf of a shooting club or shooting range.

Arms Regulations 1992, Schedule 1B – Relevant details for the Registry | New Zealand Legislation website

Last updated
7 June 2024

 

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