Police in New Zealand will no longer be responsible for firearms licensing, which will instead be handled by an independent authority under reforms to the country’s gun laws.
Under the planned new laws, firearms licensing maters will fall to an independent firearms authority, much like how vehicle licensing and registration is handled by transport departments and not the police.
Police will retain their law enforcement role when it comes to breaches of the firearm laws.
New Zealand’s laws, like Australia’s, contain “fit and proper person” clauses, but as in Australia there have been increasing concerns about the vague and ‘open to interpretation’ nature of those clauses and how they are being used by the police.
NZ shooter representative body Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) has welcomed the change, with spokesman Hugh Devereux-Mack saying the current licensing process “opens the door to discrimination, inconsistency, and abuse of power”.
“We believe individuals have been denied a firearms license because of unfair stereotypes about their level of responsibility and safety to hold and use firearms,” he said.
COLFO is also calling for objective criteria defining fit and proper person to be enshrined in the Act.
“Applicants should not need to worry about being treated unfairly due to prejudices held by their assigned arms officer,” Mr Devereux-Mack said.
“Likewise, we want more people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to be able to enjoy the fresh venison and camaraderies that come with firearm ownership in New Zealand.”
The NZ move has renewed calls for similar changes across Australia, after a recent Queensland report recommending the functions of Weapons Licensing Group be removed from Queensland Police and given to another statutory body such as Titles Queensland (the land titles office) or the Department of Transport.
NSW has already made minor moves in this direction, with Service NSW handing the administrative elements of firearms licensing in the state, and this has vastly improved outcomes as a result.
Barwon MP Roy Butler, who is a keen shooter and supporter of responsible firearms users, said moving the administrative side of firearms licensing away from NSW Police had freed up considerable quantities of police time and resources which could now be focussed on their core law enforcement and community safety roles.
“By assigning the administrative functions of the Firearms Act to a separate agency like Service NSW, for example, we free up the police to focus on their core duties of law enforcement and community safety,” he said.
“This separation ensures efficiency, transparency and better service. NSW police officers have too much that takes them away from their core role of dealing with crime.
“We know that the vast majority of firearms owners do the right thing, and it’s really only when there is a breach of the law that the police need to get involved. That is, when there is a criminal issue.”
Shooters Union Australia president Graham Park said the organisation fully supported taking firearms licensing and administration away from police and having independent government departments handle it instead.
“We’ve seen entirely too many instances of the police politicising firearms licensing and management, including essentially making up their own laws via ‘policy’ and using the firearms licensing branch as a punishment posting or an opportunity to further an activist political agenda,” he said.
“It really shouldn’t be any different to driver licensing.
“Can you imagine if the police were allowed to decide independently that they weren’t going to let people buy certain vehicles because someone there thought the purchaser didn’t need a 4WD or that the car was too fast?
“That’s exactly what happens with firearms licensing, and it needs to stop.
“The first step is the one New Zealand is taking, removing the police from the administration side of firearms licensing matters.
“There are a lot of problems with NZ’s new gun laws, but we agree they’ve got this aspect right – firearms licensing and administration does not need to be, and should not be, a police responsibility.
“We think it’s well past time that approach was adopted across Australia as well.”
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