The Government has announced its decisions on the rewrite of the Arms Act 1983.
On 11 November 2025, the Associate Justice Minister, Hon Nicole McKee, announced Cabinet’s decisions(external link) on the rewrite of the Arms Act and the future of the firearms regulator.
The Arms Act will be completely replaced by a new law, to be passed this parliamentary term.
The draft Bill will capture a wide range of changes to New Zealand’s firearms regulatory system. A key change is to require any person or organisation operating under the firearms regulatory system to act in the interests of personal, community, and public safety.
Cabinet decisions follow a major public consultation process undertaken by the Ministry of Justice in January and February 2025. The Arms Act rewrite consultation process received almost 8,500 submissions and submitters made more than 700,000 individual submission points.
Also included in the draft Bill will be changes to the firearms regulator, currently the Firearms Safety Authority, a branded business unit within the New Zealand Police.
Under the proposed changes, the regulator will be headed by an independent chief executive, appointed by the Governor-General, who will report to the responsible Minister. There will also be clearer separation between information held by the Police and information held by the regulator.
While the Police will continue to provide the regulatory agency with corporate services, oversight and monitoring of the regulator’s work will be undertaken by the Ministry of Justice.
These Cabinet decisions and the forthcoming draft Bill were prompted by a commitment in the coalition agreement between the National and Act parties to rewrite the Act and pass legislative change through this term of Parliament.
There is more information on the Ministry’s firearms reform page: www.justice.govt.nz/firearms