The ASSOCIATE Minister of Justice wants to rewrite THE ARMS ACT. sign up to our submission to tell parliament that you support strong gun laws
we know there is a lot of submission writing fatigue out there. We are making the process easier by letting you just add your name to our submission.
Add your name to show your support for:
Strengthening the ban on prohibited semi-automatic firearms
Introducing a 5 year licence for everyone
Limiting the number of firearms that a licence holder can own
What am i signing up to?
By adding your name to our submission, this is what you are supporting:
Public safety relies on gun laws that include multiple layers of protection such as the licensing of individual gun owners, registration of firearms, safe storage requirements, a ban on semi-automatic firearms, and restrictions on the availability of ammunition.
Australia’s firearms law changes in 1996 greatly reduced the number of mass shootings. Researchers estimate that they have prevented 16 mass shootings. But they have not completely eliminated the risk of mass shootings. The Bondi shootings point to a number of areas where improvements could be made in New Zealand to greatly reduce the risks to public safety:
Reducing the licensing period from 10 years to 5, and ideally 3 years.
Expanding the definition of banned firearms to include
any centre-fire rifle or shotgun capable of being used with a detachable magazine that can hold more than five cartridges
Any centre-fire rifle with a built-in magazine that holds more than 5 cartridges (down from the current 10 cartridges)
Any shotgun, not just pump-action shotguns, that has a non-detachable magazine that holds more than 5 cartridges
Limiting the number of firearms that can be owned by a licence holder.
Requiring firearms licence holders to report any other licence holders if they believe that the person poses a risk of harm either to themselves or to other people.
Other safety improvements could be made by:
Increasing the age for obtaining a licence from 16 to 18.
Limiting licences to 3 years for people under 30.
Including animal cruelty offences for consideration in the fit and proper assessment.
Banning pistol carbine conversion kits
We support retaining important public safety measures such as the ban on semi-automatic firearms and the registry. We acknowledge that the Bill makes no changes on these two policies.
We support public safety improvements in the Bill such as:
The ban on possessing new blank-firing guns
Restrictions on the ownership of large-capacity pistol magazines
Banning unlicensed people from possessing blueprints for manufacturing firearms
However there are a number of proposals in the Bill that are detrimental to public safety:
Allowing the employees of dealers and museum workers to handle pistols and restricted firearms without having an appropriate endorsement.
Extending the vetting period for pest controllers, who use semi-automatic firearms to 5 years, from the current 2.5 years.
Extending the duration of dealer licences from the current 1 year to 5 years (after a probationary period).
Allowing the Minister responsible for Firearms to appoint the chief executive of the regulator, instead of the Public Service Minister
Banning Police officers from working for the Arms Regulator
Allowing licence holders to be represented on the group that would hear appeals on decisions to deny licence applications, instead of using the District Court.
We would like these proposals to be changed back to reflect the current law. In the case of the chief executive appointment, this should be done by the Public Service Minister, who is generally responsible for chief executive appointments.
we are providing a draft of gun control nz’s detailed submission
We are providing this as a guide for others who are drafting their own submission
Signing up only shows your support for the summary submission above. It does not commit you to the detailed submission. Our full submission is in draft form and we welcome feedback from like-minded individuals and organisations. The draft Arms Bill can be found on the legislation website.
Submissions can be made to the Select Committee.