The Government should make good on its promise and make the new firearms unit announced today independent of Police, says National’s Police spokesperson Simeon Brown.

“The firearms community was promised that this new unit would be independent from Police, but the Government has reneged.

“Even as recently as July, I received assurances from the Minister of Police in response to written questions that the Government was committed to an Independent Firearms Authority. The Police Minister must explain why she has backed down on this promise.

“Police have shown in recent years that they are not the right agency to be issuing firearms licences, administering the Arms Act and enforcing the law. We have seen this through the significant delays to firearms licence applications and the lack of resourcing being put into processing firearms licences. The average processing time for standard firearms licences granted in the past 12 months was 322 days for first-time applicants and 179 days for renewal applicants.

“There are 237,087 firearms licence-holders and 398 licensed dealers in New Zealand who deserve better than this and will be feeling let down by a Police Minister who is out of her depth and removed from the reality of both frontline Police officers and the firearms community.

“National is committed to a truly Independent Firearms Authority which frees up our Police to focus on enforcing the law, cracking down on gangs and taking illegal guns off our streets.”

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