link to page 1
14 May 2024
IR-01-24-16982
J Dough
[FYI request #26843 email]
Tēnā koe J Dough
Thank you for your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA) request dated 16 May 2024 where
you asked for information about the No Arms Items Declaration.
Please find below a response to each of your questions.
The NZ Police Firearms Safety Authority website page
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.firea
rmssafetyauthority.govt.nz%2Ffirearms-registry%2Fwhen-register-or-update-
your-
information&data=05%7C02%7CMinisterial.Services%40police.govt.nz%7C5a6c
528944324ad46e1108dc75697d24%7Cca3e98072c6841ae8b669330cd5ee407
%7C0%7C0%7C638514344463976231%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJW
IjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C
40000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=A%2F7yypuGsRt9gMhu3FDE8Ozlpfe9vVT3%2Fae
AjNhFHjg%3D&reserved=0) mentions a "No Arms Items Declaration".
However, this page does not list the information required to be provided for this
"No Arms Items Declaration".
Can the New Zealand Police provide a copy of the text of a "No Arms Items
Declaration".
The No Arms Item Declaration is an online document accessible through MyFirearms, for
the Firearms Registry. Please find attached the “No Arms Item Declaration” document
which contains screenshots of the No Arms Item Declaration submission form.
Can they also provide a copy of al legal advice linked to the "No Arms Items
Declaration", especially the legal requirement for every item of information to be
captured in the "No Arms Items Declaration". This must reference each piece of
information to the legislation.
Licence holders are required to provide information for the Registry, including information
for No Arms Items Declaration. If the licence holder has no registrable arms items in their
possession at the relevant time, they are asked to confirm this when engaging with the
Registry (see sections 94(1)(e) and (2)(b) of the Arms Act
1, and regulations 40 to 42 of
1
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1983/0044/latest/whole.html#LMS187175
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority
Telephone: 0800 844 431
www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz
Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety Authority is a business unit of New Zealand Police.
link to page 2
the Arms Regulations 1992
2 (the Regulations) and Te Tari Pūreke – Firearms Safety
Authority website).
With this information at hand, Registry staff wil know there is no need to further contact
the person to encourage compliance.
Te Tari Pūreke is refusing the part of your request for “all legal advice linked to the No
Arms Items Declaration” under section 18(e) of the OIA, as the information requested
does not exist.
Can you confirm the ful list of al possible methods that a person can use to
update the Registry, including, but not limited to a "No Arms Item Declaration".
As outlined on Te Tari Pūreke’s website under
How to register or update your
information, information for the Registry can be provided online through MyFirearms, or
via Freephone: 0800 844 431 (within New Zealand) or +64 4 499 2870 (if you are not in
New Zealand). Please refer to the below website link:
https://www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz/firearms-registry/how-register-or-update-your-
information
From the Arms Act 1983 Section 94(2):
(b) any other information that the Commissioner considers necessary or
desirable—
(i) to ensure that the registry is complete and accurate; or
(i ) for the administration of this Act and regulations made under it; and
(c) any other photographs that the Commissioner considers necessary or
desirable.
Can you provide the document / letter or similar, signed by the Commissioner,
which covers what this "other information" and "any other photographs" are.
Te Tari Pūreke’s website sets out information about what is required for the Registry,
accessible vi
a https://www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz/firearms-registry. The Registry
and associated implementation processes were established and approved through the
Arms Transformation Programme and under the oversight of the Commissioner’s
delegate, the Deputy Commissioner of Operational Services and Road Policing.
Te Tari Pūreke advises there is no specific document signed by the Commissioner which
covers what “other information” and any other photographs” are, therefore this part of
your request is refused under section 18(e) of the OIA as the information requested does
not exist.
Can you provide a ful list of all data fields in the Registry for a person, their
firearm(s), their address(s), their licence(s) and any other data that links back to
any of these data objects (i.e. person, firearm(s), licence(s), etc.). Include for
each field if the data is mandatory or if it is optional.
The fol owing lists the data fields in the Registry. Fields marked with an asterisk are
mandatory.
2
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1992/0346/latest/DLM168889.html
1. Title
2. Name*
3. DOB*
4. Gender*
5. Phone*
6. Email address
7. Missing flag
8. Missing effective date
9. Deceased flag
10. Deceased date
11. Licence Status
12. Email correspondence
13. Linked data:
a. Address(es)
b. Licence(s)
c. Endorsement(s)
d. Arms item(s)
e. Transfer(s)
f. Note(s)
g. Registration(s)
h. No arms items declaration
i. Application(s)
Is the information which is held in the Firearms Registry covered by the Official
Information Act 1982? This includes the ability for a firearms licence holder (current,
suspended, revoked or any other status) to request a copy and to be able to request
corrections? If the answer to this question is no, in whole or in part, can you provide the
legal basis for this, referencing the applicable legislation.
Does the Privacy Act 2020 and the Privacy Principles, as documented by the
Privacy Commissioner
(https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.priv
acy.org.nz%2Fprivacy-act-2020%2Fprivacy-
principles%2F&data=05%7C02%7CMinisterial.Services%40police.govt.nz%7C5a
6c528944324ad46e1108dc75697d24%7Cca3e98072c6841ae8b669330cd5ee40
7%7C0%7C0%7C638514344463984208%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJ
WIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7
C40000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Gqr78yHWnjJ1UVKfOmhrx%2BfbktE%2BnE2SQ
oHtd0d3xJ8%3D&reserved=0) apply to this information. If the answer to this
question is no, in whole or in part, can you provide the legal basis for this,
referencing the applicable legislation.
As per section 37(5) of the Regulations, information provided to Police for the purposes of
entry in the Registry must be “provided in a manner or form determined by the
Commissioner”.
Te Tari Pūreke is a business unit of Police and all employees of the unit are appointed
under the Policing Act and are Police employees. Some of those employees are also
constables.
Therefore, information in the Firearms Registry is information held by Police and
accordingly covered by both the OIA and Privacy Act 2020, unless other provisions
displace those Acts (see for example section 24 of the Privacy Act 2020 and section 52 of
the OIA).
link to page 4 link to page 4
Under section 45(b)(i)(A) of the Regulations, a firearms licence holder can view their
information once the licence holder identification has been verified by Police, or via Te
Tari Pūreke firearms licence application vetting.
Once verified, the licence holder can access the fol owing information on MyFirearms
Portal:
1. MyFirearms Profile Details
2. My Licences
3. Endorsements on Licences
4. My Address(es)
5. My Registered Firearms (Al Arms Items linked to a firearms Licence).
Under section 45(1)(b)(i)(B) of the Regulations, “confirming or verifying the licence,
endorsement, and permit status of any person from whom they are buying or to whom
they are sel ing an arms item or items”, is partially provided via the Firearms Licence
Checker
3 which is available online. However, the ability to use the Licence Checker
within MyFirearms is not currently available.
The ability to change or alter the information held in some instances is possible by calling
the General enquiries line (0800 844 431 (within New Zealand) or +64 4 499 2870 (if you
are not in New Zealand) or visiting a firearms office in person, or online via the
MyFirearms portal for Change of Address or Change of Health Practitioner.
Section 63
4 of the Privacy Act 2020 provides for individuals to offer a correction to any
personal information held by an agency.
Information about how licence holders may access details of their registered arms items
electronical y and how to first validate their MyFirearms account can be found in the fol owing
link:
https://www.firearmssafetyauthority.govt.nz/firearms-registry/how-register-or-update-your-
information
To access details of registered arms items, and for security reasons, a licence holder can
only access a list of al their registered arms items through a validated MyFirearms
account.
Otherwise, individuals may request access to their information under the Privacy Act 2020.
Please see the fol owing link:
https://www.police.govt.nz/advice-services/accessing-information/request-information-
about-yourself-privacy-act
Regulation 45(b) of the Arms Regulations 1992 includes the phrase "when the
Commissioner makes the capability available". Is this capability available now? If
not, when wil this be available? Are there any possible reasons for when the
Commissioner may make it not available?
3
Firearms Licence Check | Webforms (police.govt.nz)
4
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0031/latest/LMS134243.html
If the Commissioner is to make the capability not available, does this overide the
ability to request information under Section 12 of the Official Information Act 1983
or any other part of the Official Information Act 1983? Please provide all legal
advice if it does override the Official Information Act 1983 in any way.
As outlined above, information in the Firearms Registry is information held by Police and
accordingly covered by both the OIA and Privacy Act 2020 unless other provisions
displace those Acts (see for example section 24 of the Privacy Act 2020 and section 52 of
the OIA).
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review this decision if you are not satisfied
with the response to your request. Information about how to make a complaint is
available at:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
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.
Nāku noa, nā
Matthew Boddy
Acting Director Operations
Firearms Safety Authority
Dough J IR-01-24-16982
No Arms Item Declaration screenshots from the MyFirearms portal.
The information (below) is read to the licence holder over the phone. There is no script for the
Registry officer to read from due to the information being presented onscreen when the action is
completed over the phone. The cal er must be validated before they can complete the No Arms Item
Declaration.
