It was introduced by Labour Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament Stuart Nash in response to the Christchurch mosque shootings.

[4] Firearms and related devices prohibited under the Act include: The Act provides exemptions to import, sell, supply, and possess semi-automatic firearms for licensed dealers, employees of the Department of Conservation, people engaged in pest control, bona fide firearms collectors, directors or curators of bona fide museums, approved broadcasters, and bona fide theatre companies or societies, or film or television production companies.

The Act offers an amnesty for prohibited firearms, magazines, and parts to be surrendered to licensed dealers and the New Zealand Police by 30 September 2019,[4] later extended to 20 December 2019.

[4] Following the Christchurch mosque shootings on 15 March 2019, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the government would be changing New Zealand's gun laws.

[15] Gun owners, including the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners chairman Paul Clark, Guns NZ chief executive Jim Yates, and Deerstalkers Association spokesperson Bill O'Leary, criticised the short submission time frame on the proposed law change.

However, the committee rejected calls to exempt competitive shooters from the ban because that would allow more semi-automatic firearms to remain in circulation.

Independent advisers will come up with a price list for the buyback scheme while a separate expert panel will determine fair compensation for high value firearms.

The government included an out clause that it will not be compensating people who had obtained their arms illegally, but clarified that they would still be covered by the amnesty timeframe.

ACT MP Seymour has called on the government to compensate gang members in order to convince them to surrender their arms.

[5][29] The New Zealand Police has organised a series of nationwide local collection events for gun owners to hand in prohibited firearms.