The Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFO) welcomes new rules to simplify regulations for shooting clubs and ranges, and amend Police powers that a Select Committee said went too far.

It comes after the Regulations Review Committee upheld a complaint from COLFO, finding that new regulations for firearm clubs and ranges under the previous government gave the Commissioner of Police powers to “include information in the [firearms] registry without consulting the Privacy Commissioner.”

In its Final Report, the Committee concluded that regulations Police wanted to place on firearm clubs and shooting ranges went beyond what was reasonable to protect public safety, and subtly allowed Police to circumvent a requirement to consult with the Privacy Commissioner.

The regulations allowed the Commissioner of Police to use information supplied by members of firearm clubs to effectively sign them up to the firearms registry without their consent. The Committee says it has now raised the issue with the responsible Ministers.

The Committee stated: “We consider that this power is at odds with the Privacy Commissioner consultation requirement under section 74(3), as it would conceivably allow the Commissioner of Police to include any information, including that obtained through operation of the regulations, in the registry. In doing so, the Commissioner of Police could include information in the registry without consulting the Privacy Commissioner, circumventing the consultation provision set out in section 74(3).”

COLFO spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack said he was glad the Committee had upheld COLFO’s complaint, and that the Minister had promptly responded to the privacy issues it unearthed.

“The Police were going to sign people up to the firearms registry without their informed consent, and we stopped them.”

The Committee also said it was “unclear” whether the new requirement for clubs to maintain lists of members, including firearms license numbers, and to supply those details to Police, had been adequately communicated by Police during consultation, and noted public submissions were “overwhelmingly opposed” to the significant level of information collection authorised by the new regulations.

Firearm clubs and ranges throughout New Zealand have previously complained in media that volunteers were struggling to deal with the intensive reporting mandates.

In 2023, the Select Committee (in the 53rd Parliament) found the regulations gave Police an “unexpected use of the powers conferred by the Arms Act” but deferred the final decision on the complaint for consideration by the new Committee.

That was regarding a regulation which required new firearm ranges to have consent from neighbouring landowners before being allowed to establish a range. COLFO argued that the vague wording meant neighbours could object on all matter of grounds, such as noise complaints or insufficient street parking – which do not impact the ballistic safety of a range, and therefore fall outside the Arms Act.

In its latest report, the Committee agreed that the language of the regulations is “too vague and lacks specificity”, and “did not clearly align with the supporting policy documentation supplied by Police.”

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