The newly-minted Police Minister, Ginny Andersen, has been called on by the Council of Licensed Firearm Owners (COLFO) to investigate how the previous Minister allowed Police to propose extraordinary fee increases for licensed firearm owners without evidence.

A COLFO analysis has found the proposed fees could only be accurate if Police intended to hire at least 444 full-time staff to administer compliance and license renewals. The Police have not released detailed justifications before public consultations closed on March 2, as had been promised.

COLFO’s analysis uncovered that the fee proposals allocate over 35 hours of work to renewing one firearms license. In COLFO’s experience, the process to issue or renew a license should take no more than 8 hours of Police time, including travel.

“Since the Police haven’t released any numbers, we did the calculations ourselves, and found the highest fee option would see Police profit $700 from every license renewal,” says COLFO spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack.

“The new Police Minister needs to check the books because something is very wrong. The whole basis for this fee increase is absurd.

“The resources Police plan to allocate to micromanage law-abiding New Zealanders is extraordinary. Gangs run free with firearms they’re 3-D printing in their basement, but farmers will have to pay $730 to Police for the .303 they use to shoot pests.”

“Minister Andersen should get out a calculator and figure out the cost/benefit of having 444 Police staff dedicated to policing law-abiding New Zealanders while gangs shoot at each other on the streets.”

“The next job for the Minister will be addressing the punitive Police culture towards legal firearm owners, and likely instructing Police to redirect some of that significant resource to target real criminals causing harm in communities,” says Devereux-Mack.

Police received more than 6000 submissions last month, mostly from members of the public unhappy with the prohibitively high costs and far-reaching consequences of the proposals.

“After firearm buybacks and screeds of new compliance requirements, Police are now trying to price New Zealanders out of owning a firearm,” says Devereux-Mack.

“The submissions will show an overwhelming number of issues with the proposed fee increases, not least that the proposals breach the arms act by suggesting people be billed for Police time following a burglary.

“The item causing the most stress amongst firearm owners is the price they’ll need to pay. Police have proposed license and endorsement fees increase by almost 500% from $126.50 to $730.

“It’s a prohibitive cost for farmers, pest controllers, and people hunting to put food on the table.

“It’s a high-stakes game, and one where public safety is not a priority. Sudden extreme increases in fees risk people opting out of the licensing scheme but keeping their firearm."

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