“Laws need to be robust enough to prevent firearms getting into the wrong hands,” the police minister says
A three-month buy-back has been announced as the next move in the NZ government’s firearms reform programme.
“This next amnesty and buy-back is about removing further firearms and arms items that were prohibited and restricted through the Arms Legislation Act 2020 which passed in June 2020,” Police Minister Poto Williams said. “Once this group of firearms came to the government’s attention, it was clear we had to act again to ensure all the good work done to keep our communities safe last year was not compromised.”
A total of $15.5m has been set aside for administrative and compensation costs associated with the buy-back, which will be conducted on a smaller scale than the initial buy-back conducted in 2019.
“The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms and collecting 299,837 prohibited parts and magazines,” Williams said. “This year’s buy-back will look very different to the one in 2019 as there will be no large-scale collection events. Police will be managing the smaller buy-back through appointments at police stations.”
The compensation period begins on 1 February and closes 1 May. The police provided a price list on Friday.
The police minister enumerated the main elements of the scheme as follows:
The police website published further details on the buy-back scheme.
Williams said the government was “resolute in ensuring our firearms reform programme is stopping firearms falling into the wrong hands.”
“Having a firearms licence is a privilege, not a right. I know most of our firearms community are responsible law-abiding citizens who have only good intent. However, our laws need to be robust enough to prevent firearms getting into the wrong hands,” the police minister said.
