The following is attributed to Firearms Safety Authority Acting Executive Director, Superintendent Bruce Bird:

Te Tari Pureke – Firearms Safety Authority has as its vision that firearms possession and use in New Zealand will be the safest in the world. As the regulator, central to keeping New Zealanders safe from firearms harm is balancing public safety with the needs of firearms users.

The Arms Act sets out the circumstances in which a person may not be fit and proper to be in possession of a firearm. We know ordinary New Zealanders expect our decision-making about who is suitable to legitimately possess and use firearms to be robust and effective.

In 2024/2025, the latest full year of data available, we refused 338 applications for a firearms licence from more than 26,000 licences issued – just 1.2% of licence applications were refused. Any person refused has a right to have the decision reviewed by a separate commissioned Police officer. Just 33 requested a review, of which only 13 had their licence refusal overturned (3.8% of the 338 total refusals).

In terms of interventions to encourage compliance, we have a range of tools from warning letters, and improvement notices, through to licence suspension and revocations when behaviours present a high probability of harm.

In 2024/25 we suspended 1,142 licences, or around 0.5% of licence holders. Of these, 707 licences went on to be revoked. As with the refusal of a licence, an individual can appeal a revocation decision. Some 43 revocations were appealed to a District Court, with only 17 cases overturned on appeal (just 2.4% of revocations).

The COLFO questionnaire of its members (who make up less than five percent of New Zealand’s 220,000 firearms licence holders) likely reflects their desire for less regulatory oversight of firearms in our communities.

As our licensing, suspension and revocation results demonstrate, the Firearms Safety Authority are getting these regulatory decisions right in the overwhelming majority of cases. These robust and reliable decisions are helping to keep firearms users, and all New Zealanders safe.