The Firearms Safety Authority is undertaking its second survey with the public and firearms licence holders to measure public confidence in the firearms licensing system.

Executive Director Angela Brazier says it’s important that communities feel safe from the harm that guns can cause in the wrong hands, and it’s also important that our licensed community feels that we are delivering a fair and effective service.

We have a regulatory role to uphold that works for both licence holders and the general public.

“Great progress has been made to strengthen New Zealand’s firearms regulatory system.

"We are delivering improved licensing services, and the introduction of the Registry has enabled a significant step towards becoming a modern, effective regulator.

“The goal of modernising and implementing regulatory changes, along with improved information sharing with Police, is to keep firearms out of the hands of people who would misuse them, making our communities safer.

“So it’s a great time now to check in again and provide the opportunity for the public and licence holders to tell us what they think.

"These surveys are one of the many ways we work with our communities to make sure we’re staying in touch and hearing their views on how things are going.”

The surveys are anonymous and 1700 recently approved or renewed firearms licence holders have been randomly selected for the survey, along with 1000 members of the public who do not hold a firearms licence.

The first survey was undertaken in March and April 2022.

It gave the baseline of the public’s trust and confidence in the firearms licensing system.

The analysis and report on the results included recommendations for actions to be taken.

Ms Brazier says, “It's important that we are as effective as we can be.

"The feedback through these surveys provides an opportunity for us to make further improvements.

“We have undertaken many changes since the last survey in 2022.

"We have actively improved consultation and engagement with both the firearms and non-firearms communities.”

As with the previous survey, Te Tari Pūreke intends releasing the findings publicly once they have been compiled.

ENDS

Notes to editor

The survey results from 2022 are available here: Firearms Baseline Surveys | New Zealand Police

The surveys are one of the ways Te Tari Pūreke is delivering on the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attacks on Christchurch masjidain on 15 March 2019.

Te Tari Pūreke is the regulator for firearms. Te Tari Pūreke has three core functions:

- to effectively implement the firearms licensing system

- to manage the Firearms Registry

- to educate people to enable compliance and promote the safe use of legitimate firearms.

In our regulatory role, we will monitor ongoing performance and work collaboratively with others to enable us to respond to future changes in the firearms system.