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Firearms registry is keeping NZers safe - external review (www.rnz.co.nz)
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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  • An external review shows the firearms registry is keeping people safe, says the authority
  • The ACT Party claims the review is not good enough and has invoked the "agree to disagree" clause in its coalition agreement
  • The NZ Firearms Registry was established in 2023 in response to the Christchurch mosque attacks
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[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Well a lot of FAL holders are on the right of the spectrum and some hold some 'interesting views' on government intrusion in to their lives.

There are a few issues with the DB of firearms and descriptions not matching real life etc. There is also the issue that they only accept Latin script and numbers, and you are meant to get a new stamped ID if there are non-english characters. There was no way I was defacing a rifle that was my late fathers that is over 60 y/o... so the Russian г is recorded as a r.

There is lots of chat about "when the register is hacked (and it will be, just mark my words), everyone will know where I live and what guns I have and will come and steal them all"

I'm not too worried that I registered my FAs, and re-getting my FAL post Christchurch wasn't too onerous, in fact I don't think it was any worse than when I first got it back in the early 90s

Real quote:

This means that the firearms registry will remain in place while a more comprehensive review has been blocked by Cabinet. It also means that a single government department will soon have a list of where every firearm in New Zealand, including yours, is located. Given the number of leaks from government departments, that is terrifying.

Various privacy breaches by Police of firearms owners’ personal information over the years suggests that a firearms register, if leaked, will become a steal-to-order list for gangs and criminals. The risks to your privacy – and your safety – are real.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Well a lot of FAL holders are on the right of the spectrum and some hold some ‘interesting views’ on government intrusion in to their lives.

Yeah I expected this. Also, many FAL holders are simply farmers that are already National life voters.

There are a few issues with the DB of firearms and descriptions not matching real life etc. There is also the issue that they only accept Latin script and numbers, and you are meant to get a new stamped ID if there are non-english characters. There was no way I was defacing a rifle that was my late fathers that is over 60 y/o… so the Russian г is recorded as a r.

This seems crazy for a system created in 2023, but I guess the requirements for the register were rushed due to the urgency of setting it up. No reason they couldn't have expanded it, I'd be very surprised if they built it on a system that didn't support non-latin characters at all.

There is lots of chat about “when the register is hacked (and it will be, just mark my words), everyone will know where I live and what guns I have and will come and steal them all”

... there is already a register of fire arm licence holders so burglars already have a much reduced list of places to look if they manage to hack it and they want to steal guns. Not to mention the register allows you to report them stolen so the benefits of stealing are lower (since you can't sell them legitimately anymore). But we all love to have a winge sometimes so for most people this is probably just an easy target.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co.nz/f65/register-stay-114724/

Edit

I don't think that the FA register is keeping people safer:

If you were going to commit familicide with a FA, having them registered is not going to stop that, and if you are a gang member or career criminal I doubt that getting a FAL and registering your FA would be high on your list of things to do

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

That is a seriously loaded post you linked. While I can find points I agree with, it's manipulative and has a clear agenda.

Here is one from the other side I could also describe the same way, and points to specifics for it's claims: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/117347138/why-a-gun-register-will-make-us-safer

If you were going to commit familicide with a FA, having them registered is not going to stop that,

Is that a common thing in NZ? I would expect gun crime (e.g. burglary with a gun, gangs or adversaries shooting at each other, etc) would be a bigger portion and the sort of thing this is targeting.

However, if the police became aware of a threat like this they would at least know if there was a gun in the house.

and if you are a gang member or career criminal I doubt that getting a FAL and registering your FA would be high on your list of things to do

This is what the fire arms register is there for. If you find someone with a gun and no licence, you know exactly how they got it. You can either trace it directly to a burglary, or you will find their known associate got it for them. The article Iinked points out most fire arm thefts are from careless owners leaving them unsecured, and having their name linked to the gun may encourage them to be more careful.

Personally I would like to see some more solid evidence about the impact of the register, but for minimal cost of running it and some extra paperwork when buying/selling I think it deserves to stick around until a clear trend emerges.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

There is also the point that if police get called to a disturbance at an address, they will know if there are likely to be guns in the house.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Just adding on to this, I found this study of Australia's firearm reform.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Fatal-Firearm-Incidents-Before-and-After-1996-Chapman-Stewart/9146a5543654d64227c688abc8a1a821f665039c

An analysis of firearm deaths between 1979 and 2013 showed that 13 mass shootings (homicides in which at least 5 persons died, not including the perpetrator) took place in the 18 years preceding and including the Port Arthur massacre; none has occurred in the 22 years since

Before 1996, approximately 3 mass shootings took place every 4 years. Had they continued at this rate, approximately 16 incidents (SD, 4) would have been expected since then by February 2018.

Now this could easily be attributed to the other changes made. The study was not looking specifically at a register but at all the changes made:

Provisions included uniform gun registration, repudiation of self-defense as a legitimate reason to hold a firearm licence, locked storage, a ban on private gun sales and civilian ownership of semiautomatic rifles and pump-action shotguns, and standardized penalties

I would welcome anyone that can find a study on gun registration independent of other changes, this is the closest I have found: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2022001/article/00009-eng.pdf

It shows after Canada ended registration for rifles and similar in 2012 gun crime rates slowly rose after slowly falling up to that point, but I am not convinced this is related (and the document makes no connection as far as I can tell). Canada still registers hand guns and similar, which are the main guns used in crime, so this is in no way definitive one way or the other.

this post was submitted on 13 May 2025
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