Under the compliance requirements for clubs and ranges.

Range inspections

An inspection of a club or range can only be undertaken by a member of Police authorised by the Commissioner in writing. Only members of the Clubs and Ranges Team will hold the written authority. 

Inspections of shooting ranges are to be done at a time and on days when the range is not in use.

Inspections will be prioritised based on the risk posed by the shooting discipline of each range, whether they have existing Improvement Notices and any other likely risks identified with that range. This is captured using the Deployment Matrix, a tool that has specifically been developed for clubs and ranges. 

The power to enter and inspect, as authorised by the Commissioner, allows for a member of the Police entering and inspecting:

  • Any shooting range, including any shooting club that is part of that range; and
  • Any place where the shooting club stores firearms or ammunition.

Police may also inspect, print or copy documents that are reasonably believed to be documents of the club or range. Police may also remove any hard copy documents that are reasonably believed to be those of the club or range. 

The inspections outlined above can only be undertaken in select circumstances. For a pistol shooting range, entering, and inspecting can only be undertaken when considering an application for certification or renewal of its certification. For a non-pistol shooting range, an inspection may only be undertaken when considering an application for enrolment, and after that at intervals no more frequent than once every 5 years.

Police must provide 7 days’ notice prior to inspecting a shooting club or a shooting range and therefore will need to prepare inspections well enough in advance and allow for mail delivery times, staff rostering and notice periods. 

Section 38XK.

Post range inspection

On completion of the inspection, Police will send an outcome letter by email along with any additional information to the shooting range operator (SRO). 

Any of the following could be a result of an inspection:

  • Shooting Clubs or Range - Inspection Result Notice
  • Shooting Club - Improvement Notice
  • Shooting Range - Improvement Notice
  • Temporary Suspension Notice

All outcomes will be emailed or mailed via post to the SRO and the Incorporated Society address (if applicable). The SRO will be contacted by phone to advise the outcome for serious and/or urgent cases.

Improvement notice

An Improvement Notice is issued under section 38XL of the Act in order to rectify a breach or prevent non-compliance, within a set timeframe. The purpose of an Improvement Notice is to focus the SRO on the tasks to be carried out to remedy a breach. An Improvement Notice will generally be issued where a type of non-compliance is detected. 

An Improvement Notice can be issued if a member of Police reasonably believes that:

  • a pistol shooting club is failing, is likely to fail, or has failed to comply with any conditions relating to its certification of approval; or
  • a pistol shooting range is failing, is likely to fail, or has failed to comply with the conditions relating to its certification; or
  • a shooting club or a shooting range, which includes non-pistol shooting clubs and ranges and temporary non-pistol shooting ranges, is contravening, is likely to contravene, or has contravened a provision of the Arms Act or the Arms Regulations.

If required, an improvement notice is to be issued to either the shooting club or the range operator. The notice may require the club or the operator, with a reasonable time period specified in the notice to remedy non-compliance or contravention or prevent a likely non-compliance or contravention from occurring. 

The Improvement Notice is not a sanction, but a compliance tool used to highlight an area that doesn’t meet standards and needs to be rectified or improved for the club or range to continue operating safely.

Temporary suspension

If a pistol shooting club or a range operator has failed to comply with an Improvement Notice, then the operations of the club and/or range may be temporarily suspended. Sections 38XM and 38XN refer.

A notice of temporary suspension must be in writing (to the shooting club or range operator) and state:

  • the ground on which the notice is given; and
  • the date on which the suspension begins; and
  • that the suspension is to enable the Police to consider cancelling the pistol shooting club’s or pistol shooting range’s certificate of approval on that ground; and
  • that the suspension lasts until the decision as to whether to cancel the certificate of approval is given. 

Police has 90 days to make a decision and issue a notice of that decision. If the decision notice is not given within the 90 days, the suspension ends with the close of that 90-day period.

Natural justice applies in that the pistol shooting club or range may wish to provide information to the decision maker as to the reasons they believe the certificate should not be cancelled. The pistol shooting club or pistol shooting range should be invited to make submissions. If the club or range does provide such submissions or information, the decision maker should take this into consideration prior to making a final decision. It must be clear in the decision that submissions made by the club have been fully considered. The decision should record what those submissions were.

Technical guidance for shooting range certification and enrolment

The New Zealand Police Shooting Range Manual

The manual details the safe design, construction and operation of shooting ranges containing the Commissioner’s safety standards in accordance with the Arms Act 1983.

New Zealand Police Shooting Range Manual

Shooting range danger area electronic templating 

The following presentations explain and demonstrate 3 methods that can be used to determine a shooting range danger area by application of an electronic ammunition danger area template. 

The PDF presentation files may be downloaded for your continued reference.

The template library (in MS Powerpoint format) has been made available so that you can copy and paste your selected ammunition danger area template (ADAT) for practical application. It is not necessary to download the complete file.

Library - Transparent ADATs

Shooting range danger area manual templating

The following videos explain and demonstrate 3 methods that can be used to determine a shooting range danger area by manual application of an ammunition danger area template. 

The videos can be paused, stopped, replayed or downloaded at your convenience. 

  1. Template Application 1
  2. Template Application 2
  3. Template Application 3

Ammunition danger area templates 

The ADATs are drawn to 1:50,000 and 1:25,000 scale. The use of ADATs is detailed in section 5 of the Shooting Range Manual.

Tip: To help draw the scale diagram of the range danger area, print the selected ADAT then photocopy it onto an overhead projector transparency film, then apply it to a map of the area to the same scale.  

Ammunition Danger Area Templates (ADATs)

Measuring the shooting range

This video explains how to measure specific components and structural features of a shooting range.

 

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