We are reforming New Zealand's firearms laws and regulations to provide for greater protection of public safety and simplify regulatory requirements to improve compliance.
The firearms reform programme will deliver a firearms system that:
Since the Act was passed 40 years ago, it has been changed many times, including in response to events in New Zealand’s history where there were many deaths involving firearms. One tragic example of this was on 15 March 2019, when a terrorist attacked worshippers at two Christchurch mosques.
Changes to the Act were often made quickly. This meant that a thorough review of all rules in the Act was often not possible at the time. This has resulted in today’s firearms rules being complicated to understand for a range of firearms users, making it hard for some users to know what to do to comply.
To address this, the Government made a commitment in the Coalition Agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party to reform the firearms system in this Parliamentary term.
The Coalition Agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party committed to making changes to several parts of the firearms system.
This has been broken up into four overlapping phases of work. Phases 1 and 2 are now complete, and the other phases are in different stages of development.
This was part of a first 100-days coalition commitment to give Police additional power to search gang members for firearms. This will help prevent high-risk people from legally accessing or using firearms or associating with people who have firearms. The additional powers were enabled through amendments to the Firearms Prohibition Orders system. The Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Amendment Act 2024 was passed in September 2024 and the law will came into effect in March 2025.
This addresses concerns about Part 6 of the Arms Act relating to the controls placed on shooting clubs and shooting ranges in 2020. The bill was passed by Parliament(external link) on 26 March 2025 and came into force on 29 June 2025. You can read more at:
New Zealand Parliament website: Arms (Shooting Clubs, Shooting Ranges, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill - New Zealand Parliament(external link)
New Zealand Legislation website: Arms (Shooting Clubs, Shooting Ranges, and Other Matters) Amendment Act (external link)
Guidance on the new rules for shooting clubs and ranges is available on the Firearms Safety Authority website.(external link)
This involved a review of the Firearms Registry to determine if it is effectively improving public safety. The Review was published [PDF, 7.3 MB] in May 2025.
Phase 3 also involves the transfer of the Firearms Safety Authority, regulator of the Arms Act, to another department.
This will involve rewriting the Arms Act to ensure it provides for greater protection of public safety, reflects best practice, and is fit for purpose.
From 13 January to 28 February 2025, we invited public submissions to assist us with the Arms Act rewrite.
We developed a detailed discussion document to help people make their submissions. The document divided the Act into seven key themes and sought public views on key areas within each theme. It included a glossary to clarify technical terms.
Public submissions on the rewrite of the Arms Act closed at midnight on 28 February 2025.
The Ministry of Justice thanks everyone who made a submission. Submissions will help the Government understand where the Act is and isn’t working and will feed into an analysis process where the Ministry of Justice will carefully consider the voices of all communities that could be affected by the rewrite. The public will have an opportunity to provide further feedback on specific policy proposals when the bill goes through the select committee process. This is expected to occur in late 2025.
Our framework guides how we develop new policy through the firearms reform to ensure it is cohesive, consistent and contributes to the reform’s objectives.
Controls imposed by the firearms system should:
Recognising the wide public interest and diversity of views about how firearms are controlled, our approach to reform will:
The Minister’s Arms Advisory Group (MAAG) advises the Minister on matters that contribute to achieving the objectives of the Arms Act, in particular, the safe use and control of firearms. The Ministry of Justice performs the secretariat function.
It provides advice on any matter relating to firearms in New Zealand, including:
MAAG is made up of a balance of members from both firearm-owning and the non-firearm-owning communities. This includes people who are concerned about the mitigation of harm from firearms from a health perspective.
You can find out more about MAAG on the NZ Police website.
Minister's Arms Advisory Group(external link) (external link)
Please contact us if you want to know more about our firearms reform work. You can email us at firearms@justice.govt.nz
Cabinet and Ministerial advice setting out the firearms reform programme [PDF, 1.9 MB]
Firearms Prohibition Orders Legislation Amendment Act 2024(external link)
Tranche 1 of Cabinet and Ministerial advice on changes to clubs and ranges regulations [PDF, 13 MB]
Tranche 2 of Cabinet and Ministerial advice on changes to clubs and ranges regulations [PDF, 3.8 MB]
Tranche 3 of Cabinet and Ministerial advice on changes to clubs and ranges regulations [PDF, 1.3 MB]
Tranche 4 of Cabinet and Ministerial advice on changes to clubs and ranges regulations [PDF, 2.1 MB]
Arms (Shooting Clubs, Shooting Ranges, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill(external link)
Cabinet and Ministerial advice on Firearms Registry Review - Terms of Reference [PDF, 3.5 MB]
Proactive release - Firearms Registry Review, Cabinet Paper and Minute and Regulatory Impact Statement - Purchase of Ammunition as an Activating Circumstance [PDF, 7.3 MB]
Consultation on Arms Act rewrite to begin(external link)
Arms Regulations 1992(external link)
Arms (Prohibited Ammunition Order) 2019(external link)
Arms (Prohibited Magazine) Order 2019(external link)
Arms (Military Style Semi-automatic Firearms–Pistol Grips) Order 2013(external link)
Arms (Restricted Weapons and Specially Dangerous Airguns) Order 1984(external link)
New Zealand Firearms Safety Authority – Te Tari Pūreke(external link)
History of firearms regulation in New Zealand(external link) (New Zealand Police website)
Changes to the firearms laws since 2019(external link) (FSA website)
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