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More than 200 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition were discovered by police investigating the “unusual purchasing practices” of a 60-year-old man living in Auckland.
While no illegal weapons were found, the police seized the massive collection and suspended the owner’s firearms licence because most of the guns werenot locked in a safe as required.
Such a cache of unsecured firepower could easily have ended up in the hands of criminals, police say. The owner declined to comment at his home earlier this week.
But the curious case also highlights that there is no restriction on the number of firearms someone can own in New Zealand, a fact gun control advocates describe as “concerning”.
The Herald understands the owner was raided by police after being identified, through data analysis of retail sales, as someone who had purchased a significant number of guns.
While there was no evidence he was acting as a “straw buyer”, Firearms Safety Authority director Angela Brazier confirmed search warrants were executed in late February as a result of the owner’s “unusual purchasing practices”.
More than 200 firearms were found, as well as a large amount of ammunition.
“No restricted or prohibited firearms were found, but we were very concerned by the licence holder’s total disregard of compliance around security,” Brazier said.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee inspects seized illegal firearms with police staff this month. She says New Zealand's Arms Act will be rewritten "in its entirety" this Parliamentary term. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“The bulk of the firearms seized were not even locked in gun safes and could have been accessed by anyone who gained entry to these locations.”
The man was not an official dealer or collector, although Brazier said the firearms were consistent with the class of licence he held.
“However, we consider the size of this cache for personal use by one individual to be highly unusual.”
While no criminal charges were laid, Brazier said the firearms were seized under the Arms Act for safe storage and the man’s licence was suspended.
Such a large collection of unsecured weapons was a potential target for burglary, with 2769 firearms reported as stolen in the past five years.
“The theft of firearms from licence holders is one of the pathways legitimate firearms make their way into the black market and the hands of criminals,” Brazier said.
While the raids last month came after the police noticed “unusual” sales purchases from historical records, Brazier said the new firearms registry would gather the same information in real-time.
This will allow for earlier intervention and checks to be made, Brazier said.
Philippa Yasbek, from the lobby group Gun Control NZ, said she looked forward to the registry providing more detail on the number of firearms owned by individual licence holders.
“We are concerned that there are absolutely no limits on the number of firearms that can be owned by an individual with an ordinary firearm,” Yasbek said.
“Even if the individual has no criminal intentions, large caches of firearms create significant risks to the community if they are stolen.”
She pointed to the example of Western Australia where the state government wants to introduce a limit of 10 firearms for farmers and gun club members. Recreational shooters could own up to five firearms under the proposal.
However, a spokesperson for the Council for Licenced Firearms Owners (Colfo) lobby group said it had yet to see “significant data” which supported further restrictions on licensed firearms owners.
“The number of firearms held by a licenced firearm owner is not a significant security threat if [said firearms are] stored correctly, and the individual continues to uphold a conscious security profile that includes not broadcasting the number of firearms they own,” Hugh Devereux-Mack said.
Instead of making New Zealand safer, Devereux-Mack said the requirement to register each firearm created a “shopping list for criminals” of which houses are most valuable to target.
“In a time where we see increasing cyber-attacks, and supposedly secure systems being breached, the greatest threat to licenced firearm owners, their families and public safety is the firearms register,” Devereux-Mack said.
It’s a similar criticism to the arguments previously made by Act MP Nicole McKee, who opposed the register and other gun law reform on the grounds the new rules punish legitimate gun owners instead of criminals who would break the law anyway.
McKee is now Associate Justice Minister and is responsible for the firearms portfolio.
In one of her first moves as a minister, she brought forward a review of the effectiveness of the firearms registry which is to be completed by June - just 12 months after the registry started.
Asked whether she was open to the idea of restricting the number of firearms that one person could own, McKee said the Government was committed to rewriting the Arms Act “in its entirety”.
“I am actively considering advice and expect to make announcements about this programme of work in due course,” McKee said.
“A robust public consultation process is crucial to ensure we develop legislation that is both enduring and fit for purpose. This means it increases public safety, simplifies regulatory requirements and improves compliance.”
Before entering politics, McKee was the spokesperson for Colfo.
- Additional reporting by George Block.
Jared Savage is an award-winning journalist who covers crime and justice issues, with a particular interest in organised crime. He joined the Herald in 2006, and is the author of Gangland and Gangster’s Paradise.
