Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand Cautions Against Adopting Australian Firearms Laws
The Sporting Shooters Association of New Zealand (SSANZ) has voiced strong concerns about calls to emulate Australia's firearms laws following the release of the latest Arms Act discussion document by the Ministry of Justice. SSANZ highlights significant flaws in Australia’s firearms legislation, supporting a more nuanced approach tailored to New Zealand’s unique context that the Ministry of Justice is taking.
"While comparative studies can be helpful, idolizing Australian firearms law disregards its complexities and shortcomings," said Thomas Hemphill, President. "New Zealand deserves mature and objective discussions that prioritize effective solutions over replication and anti-gun politicisation."
Australia’s post-1996 National Firearms Agreement serves as non-binding guidelines for states, resulting in a fragmented system with inconsistent enforcement. Examples of systemic issues include:
• Victoria: Poor transparency in accessing police data, hampering accountability.
• Tasmania: Repealed exemptions for visiting license holders for hunting, only to reinstate them less than a week later amid backlash, highlighting unstable legal frameworks.
• New South Wales: "Appearance laws" ban firearms based on cosmetic features, echoing ineffective policies in pre-2019 New Zealand.
• Queensland: The Wiemballa shootings exposed weaknesses in license verification and cross-border tracking, raising questions about register reliability. The only firearms license holder had his license suspended and an arrest warrant issued months prior, and fled NSW with his firearms to QLD. The registry was not able to account for the movement of these firearms he took with him. He was then subsequently able to purchase ammunition in QLD due to state law not requiring online verification of the suspended NSW firearms license, prior to the shootings.
• Northern Territory: A parolee obtained a restricted firearm in under a month of release, killing four and wounding another in downtown Darwin in 2019, underscoring the prevalence of black-market weaponsin the community, and adding to the list of underreported shootings in Australia that result in multiple casualties.
• Western Australia: Recent rushed law changes introduced arbitrary bans and increased compliance burdens, with safe wall and door thickness requirements exceeding industry standards. This was on top of the disaster in March 2022 where WA Police released data held on their firearms register including license holder addresses to the State Government who provided it to the media, who published accurate maps and information detailing where license holders lived as part of the PR campaign for the above law changes. This map made specific note of who owned rifles, and who owned highly desirable pistols. This led to a series of home invasions and robberies, in one notable instance, the home owner was set on fire and his pistols stolen. This represented a monumental breach of trust with not Police keeping license holder registry data safe, and whilst Police have acknowledged the risk they created. The maps are still publicly available despite the monumental breach of privacy.
"These examples show that Australia’s firearms laws are neither cohesive nor immune to significant failures," added Thomas. "It’s critical that New Zealand’s firearms policy reflects what works for our society, rather than importing flawed systems."
SSANZ supports meaningful consultation with stakeholders and advocates for adopting proven initiatives, such as Australia’s permanent and unconditional firearms amnesty, while rejecting wholesale adoption of problematic policies and the false idolisation of what is an incoherent pick-and-mix of state and federal law.