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A gun shop owner says online selling site Trade Me is not doing enough to stop illegal firearms sales on its website.
More than 500 guns are on offer on Trade Me, but while licensed gun shops insist on getting a signed form from a police officer, some
private sellers do not mention the legal requirement for a gun licence.
The Sunday Star-Times reported it bought one .22 rifle easily on Trade Me from a private seller in Auckland who made no request to see a firearms licence.
Auckland gun shop owner Ray Carvell said Trade Me had a "moral responsibility" to ensure guns were not being bought on its site illegally and possibly used in crimes.
"It's terrible, we've been warning the police about this for some time now, and nothing has been done," Mr Carvell said.
"We've got a system in place that is trusting people to do the right thing."
Firearms can be bought privately but cannot be sold to someone without a valid licence. The onus is on the seller, who faces a fine up to $1000 or three months in prison, to check the buyer has a valid licence.
A buyer who does not have a licence can face a fine up to $5000 or four years imprisonment on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.
"This is the only country in the world as far as we know where you're allowed to do this. It's bloody disgusting," gun collector Steve Harman told the Sunday Star-Times.
Police media relations manager Jon Neilson said it was up to Trade Me to ensure firearms sales on its site were legal and Trade Me needed to alert police to illegal gun trading.
Trade Me trust and safety manager Dean Winter said gun sellers must declare they have a relevant licence, but it does not ask for sellers' licence numbers. He said it was an offence to lie on the declaration.
"We have a fantastic relationship with police arms officers. They are aware of how stringent we are," Mr Winter told the Sunday Star-Times.
The only firearms which can be sold on Trade Me are sporting rifles and shotguns category A firearms, though some dealers said they were concerned AK-47 semi-automatic rifles could be easily modified to a more dangerous E-category.
Gun parts which can be used in such an upgrade cannot be sold on Trade Me.
Police estimate there are about 1.1 million guns in New Zealand, and it has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world per capita.
A bill is before Parliament seeking to update and clarify the issues of firearm registration and licensing, but it does not call for all guns to be registered.
- NZPA
