In order to legally own and operate a firearm in New Zealand you must have a current firearms licence. You can apply for a licence at your local Police Station. The law dealing with firearms licences is set out in the ARMS ACT 1983.
Anyone who is 16 or over can apply for a firearms licence. You will need to apply in person at a Police Arms Office at your local Police Station, Community Policing Centre or Police Base; for contact details and more information on how to apply, see the Police website at www.police.govt.nz. You must pay an administration fee along with your application.
When you apply, you will need to bring with you:
The Police arms officer will provide you with the application form, give you an information booklet on firearms, and arrange for you to attend a firearms safety lecture.
The Police will assess whether you are a fit and proper person to possess a firearm. They will check any records that they have relating to you, such as previous criminal convictions.
The Police will contact your referees. You will also be visited at home; this is to interview you and to check that you have a secure place to store your firearms. You will not be issued a licence if the Police believe that your firearms are likely to be used by someone else.
You will have to attend a lecture by a firearms safety instructor, and pass an exam at the end of the lecture.
All firearms licences are issued subject to conditions dealing with matters such as storing your firearms securely.
Firearms licences last for 10 years, unless they are revoked or surrendered before that.
You can apply for renewal of your existing firearms licence before the expiration date. Any firearms licence issued before 1 November 1999 will expire in October 2002 because of legislative changes. However, visitors to New Zealand who intend to stay less than a year may be issued with a license limited to the length of their stay.
The Commissioner of Police, may at any time, "call in" a firearms licence. If this happens, a date will be set by which you must surrender your licence. You can surrender it to a Police officer at your local Police Arms Office.
If you do not surrender the licence, it will be deemed to have expired. The expired licence may be reinstated if you have a good excuse for why you did not respond to the call-in – for example, if you never received the call-in notice.