WELLINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is taking steps to ensure gun ownership is restricted to responsible users and to stop the flow of guns into the black market, as legislation is introduced to the parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
The bill includes a new register to track firearms and new offences and penalties that can be applied extraterritorially for illegal manufacture, trafficking, and for falsifying, removing, or altering markings - which are a new requirement under the Firearms Protocol.
Every person who is currently found guilty of selling or supplying a firearm to an unlicensed person is liable for a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine of 1,000 New Zealand dollars (640 U.S. dollars). This bill will increase those penalties to two years and 20,000 New Zealand dollars (12,814 U.S. dollars) respectively.
"In April, we took action to remove military style semi-automatics from our communities. Now we are taking the next step; to prevent firearms from reaching the hands of criminals.
"Our focus since March 15 has been on ensuring that our communities are as protected as they can be from the potential for another attack like the horrific one we witnessed in Christchurch.
"That attack exposed weaknesses in legislation which we have the power to fix. We would not be a responsible government if we didn't address them," Ardern said.
"Some of the changes in this bill will improve our ability to monitor firearms lawfully entering and exiting the country and enhance our ability to combat organized crime. New Zealand will accede to the United Nations Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (the Firearms Protocol)," the prime minister added.
Police Minister Stuart Nash said the Arms Act in 1983 is no longer fit for purpose. "It's 2019, we need to ensure police have the tools and legislation behind them that they need to keep our communities safe," he said, adding "I am absolutely committed to that. There are a number of significant changes within this bill and we need every one of them."
Nash acknowledged that around 18,204 firearms offences have been committed in the four calendar years 2015-2018. These offences range from homicides, to robbery, intimidation, failing to comply with the Arms Act licensing regime, and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle.
The new firearms registry will hold the licence holder's full name, date of birth, and address. It will hold details of their licence number and any endorsements. It will record all transfers, sales, purchases, imports, and exports of firearms and other items. Private sales will still be permitted.
The registry will be an online self-service model in order to make compliance easy for firearms owners and minimize the administrative burden for the police. A paper-based option will continue for people without easy access to computers or good connectivity, such as those in remote communities.
Firearms owners will be shifted onto the register over five years as they engage with the licencing system, such as when renewing their licence or buying or selling a firearm. If an existing licence holder does none of these processes in the five-year period, they will still be required to enter information in the registry by the end of the five-year period.
The registry is expected to be operational within two years of enactment of the act and can go live earlier under Order in Council. Information on the registry will be protected by the Privacy Act.
