Gun politics in New Zealand

About 230,000 licensed firearms owners own and use New Zealand's estimated 1.1 million firearms. As in Australia, but unlike the US and Canada, gun laws usually gain the support of both major parties before they are passed. Guns are not currently a major political issue, but have been immediately after the Aramoana massacre in 1990, and the Scottish Dunblane and Australian Port Arthur massacres in 1996.

Various governments, groups behind the Thorp report, and the New Zealand Police have pushed for various forms of universal firearm registration. This has currently not succeeded but current manoeuvrings by the New Zealand Police are attempting to reclassify large numbers of 'A' category firearms as 'E' category (military-style semi-automatics), which requires them to be registered. This has been done though even by their own admission the New Zealand Police cannot reliably register the current military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) firearms.

In March 2009 the New Zealand police bid to reclassify certain types of civilian semi-automatic firearms was overturned by the New Zealand High Court as a result of a legal challenge mounted by the New Zealand National Shooters Association (NSA) president Richard Lincoln.

Gun laws in New Zealand are notably more liberal than other countries in the Pacific and focus mainly on vetting firearm owners, rather than registering firearms or banning certain types of firearms. Firearms legislation is provided for in the Arms Act and its associated regulations, though stricter unofficial police and government policies also apply.

Firearms in New Zealand fall into one of four categories:

Registration is not required under the law but the police carry out a regime similar to registration for all but "A Category" firearms. Firearms in any other category require a "permit to procure" before they are transferred.

Except under supervision of a licence holder, owning or using firearms requires a firearms licence from the police. The licence is normally issued, under the conditions that the applicant has secure storage for firearms, attends a safety program administered by the Mountain Safety Council and passes a written safety test. The police will also interview the applicant and two referees (one must be a close relative and the other not related) to determine whether the applicant is "fit and proper" to have a firearm. The applicant's residence is also visited to check that they have appropriate storage for firearms and ammunition. Having criminal associations or a history of domestic violence almost always leads to a licence being declined.

...
Wikipedia