1 July 2019
Our Reference: IR-01-19-9161
Blair Jackson
Email: [FYI request #9947 email]
Email: [email address]
Dear Blair
I am writing to you in response to your request dated 28 March 2019. You asked:
1. How many guns were relinquished in the Southland District between March 21
and March 28, 2019?
2. How many guns were relinquished in the Southland District between March 15
and March 21, 2019?
3. To which Southland police stations have guns been relinquished since March 21,
2019?
4. How many people hold gun licences in Southland as of March 28 2019?
5. How many semi-automatic guns licences were there in Southland, as of March
15?
6. How many firearms licenses have been declined in the Southland district
between January 1 2014 and March 28 2019?
7. How many firearms licenses have been applied for in the Southland district
between January 1 2014 and March 28 2019?
8. How many firearms licences have been granted in the Southland District between
January 1 2014 and March 28 2019?
Southern Police District boundary is available here:
https://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/about-us/structure/districts/southern-map.png
Between 22 March and 28 March 2019 (inclusive), 34 firearms were surrendered to
Police in Southern District. Note, I have shifted the requested date to 22 March as 21
March is included in your next question and 22 March would make the two periods
comparable at seven days each.
Between 15 March and 21 March 2019 (inclusive), two firearms were surrendered to
Police in Southern District.
Police National Headquarters 180 Molesworth Street. PO Box 3017, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
Telephone: 04 474 9499. Fax: 04 498 7400. www.police.govt.nz
Between 21 March and 5 June 2019, 99 firearms were surrendered to Police in Southern
District. The distribution of firearms by stations where they were surrendered is shown
below.
Firearms Surrendered
Station
21 Mar - 5 Jun 2019
Alexandra
1
Dunedin Central
2
Gore
13
Half-Moon Bay
5
Hampden
2
Invercargill Central
3
Kaikorai Valley
1
Kurow
2
Middlemarch
2
Oamaru
9
Omakau
1
Queenstown
13
Ranfurly
1
Riversdale
1
Tapanui
1
Te Anau
1
Wanaka
35
Winton
2
Wyndham
4
Total
99
There were 32,602 people residing in Southern District who held an active standard
firearms licence on 31 March 2019 (this data is operational and changes regularly, but
there was a snapshot taken on 31 March which is the closest to the date you requested).
There is no 'semi-automatic gun licence'. Up until 12 April 2019, there was an
endorsement to hold a Military Style Semi-Automatic firearm, called E Endorsement, but
this did not apply to all semi-automatic firearms. Most semi-automatic firearms (such as
other types of rifles and shotguns) could be held without an endorsement. As at 31
March, there were 811 people residing in Southern District who held an active E
endorsement on their firearms licence. All these endorsements were revoked by
legislation.
Between 1 January 2014 and 28 March 2019, there were 25,726 standard firearms
licence applications in Southern District. Of these, 206 were refused and 25,108 were
granted. This does not mean they are all active now – some may have been granted but
later revoked or surrendered.
For your information, Police has developed a process for proactive release of information,
so the anonymised response to your request may be publicly released on the New
Zealand Police website.
Yours sincerely
Mike McIlraith
Acting Superintendent
Arms Act Service Delivery Group
