After the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, legislation to restrict semi-automatic firearms and magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds, and provide an amnesty and buyback of such weapons, was introduced and passed by the New Zealand parliament 119 to 1.
Hunting game, pest control and agricultural uses, sports, collection, and theatrics are all normally acceptable purposes but personal protection and self-defence are not.
It is established New Zealand law and public policy that allowing privately owned guns to be carried by people who provide personal protection to VIPs, whether foreign or domestic, is not appropriate.
The Arms Act was specifically amended to allow authorised personal protection officers of foreign dignitaries to carry their own firearms.
The applicant's residence is also visited to check for appropriate storage of firearms and ammunition and to ensure any other people living there are not a security risk.
Sales can be made by mail-order, but a police officer must sign the order form to verify that the purchaser has a firearms licence.
[citation needed] The loophole exists as MSSAs are classified by their parts so slight modifications can mean an MSSA can be purchased with a regular licence (Rosie Perper).
Early laws were mainly targeted at Māori during the New Zealand Wars in the Waikato and Taranaki, and were largely suspended at the end of the 1880s.
Strikes in 1912 and 1913, a Communist revolution in Russia, and large numbers of ex-military guns coming into the country after World War I were used as justification for a new law in 1920.
It was believed that the government would be unlikely to provide the resources required to update the register and that it would be politically difficult to demand registration information from firearm owners.
After the Aramoana massacre in November 1990, John Banks, the Minister for Police, announced that the government would ban what he and others described as "Rambo-style" weapons and substantially tighten gun laws generally.
The law also created the new category of "military-style semi-automatic", which like the Federal Assault Weapons Ban two years later in the United States, mainly covered the appearance rather than the functionality of the guns.
However, sales of high-capacity magazines and other parts distinguishing MSSA guns from the latter was not regulated, creating a legal loophole which was exploited by criminals afterwards.
In 2019 after the Christchurch mosque shootings John Banks said that he was "haunted" by not being able to persuade his cabinet colleagues to ban semi-automatic guns after the Aramoana massacre in 1990.
[39] Thorp's report explored how New Zealand had arrived at its existing legislation, its underlying principles, its effectiveness compared to other countries, its administration and cost.
Criminologist Greg Newbold appraised Thorp's recommendations and concluded that while Thorp's report was a valuable snapshot of firearms and their use in New Zealand, it would be politically difficult to implement most recommendations and would depend on the additional resources the government was prepared to devote to implementing them, though he doubted their cost effectiveness in any case.
In April 1999, in anticipation of the APEC summit September of that year the Arms Amendment Act 1999 was passed, giving the power to authorise "any foreign personal protection officer" to carry "firearms, airguns, pistols, and restricted weapons, and such quantities and types of ammunition as are specified...", but this automatically expired on 30 September 1999.
After the strong weight of submissions made against the bill when it was in select committee, the government was persuaded that the changes were unneeded and would be difficult to implement.
[46] In July 2017 a doomsday prepper Quinn Patterson, 56, used MSSA weapons to kill two property inspectors, wound a contractor accompanying them and skirmish with police for several hours before taking his own life.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the chair of an executive committee which in 2018 ushered through amendments to the Arms Regulations 2002, to allow Police to accept and process various applications concerning firearms licences and weapons transactions electronically.
Previously under the Arms Act, if someone wanted to become a gun dealer, get a firearms licence, import a restricted weapon, or get a permit to buy a military-style semi-automatic, they had to physically deliver an application to their nearest police station.
[66] As part of the buy-back program, the New Zealand Police organised a series of nationwide local collection events for gun owners to hand in prohibited firearms.
Police Minister Stuart Nash announced that the Government would be drafting a new bill to codify these proposed reforms, which would be in August with a three-month select committee process to follow.
[69][70][71] In late August, a draft version of the Government's proposed new gun laws was leaked to the opposition National Party.
[78] On 9 August it passed unanimously, allowing courts to prohibit specific criminal offenders from possessing firearms for 10 years.
[79] On 31 May 2022 it was announced that a five-year $13 million contract for a gun registration database had been signed with the Objective Corporation, an Australian firm.
They are issued Bushmaster XM-15 semi-automatic rifles, Glock 17 gen 4 pistols, and Tasers, which are normally carried in patrol cars and not on the officers.[relevant?
[87][88][89] Previously influential groups that are generally no longer active include the Coalition for Gun Control, and Gunsafe NZ.
[91] New Zealand's main political parties, Labour and National, generally treat gun control as a bi-partisan issue.
[94] After the Christchurch Massacre, the ACT party claimed they supported change but argued that the legislation parliament passed was rushed and unjust.