Dear New Zealand Police,

Subject: Official Information Act request – Role of the Firearms Registry in 3D-printed firearms seizure (West Auckland, October 2025)

I am making the following request under the Official Information Act 1982.

This request relates to the incident reported by the New Zealand Herald on 10 October 2025, titled “West Auckland man charged after 3D-printed guns seized in police raid”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/west...

According to that article, a police search of a property in West Auckland led to the discovery of several 3D-printed firearms and related materials, and a man has since been charged.

Information requested

Please provide the following information in relation to this incident:

Registry involvement

Did the New Zealand Firearms Registry (operated by Te Tari Pūreke / Firearms Safety Authority) contribute in any way to the identification, location, or seizure of the firearms referenced in this operation?

If so, please outline how the Registry assisted (e.g. via serial-number matches, licence-holder lookups, dealer record checks, or address associations).

Operational use

Was the Firearms Registry queried or accessed by police as part of this investigation?

If yes, please provide the date(s) and unit/function that made the query, the search type used (e.g. by serial number, licence, or address), and a short description of the result (e.g. match / no match / informational).

Record association

Did any firearm(s) recovered have a record or serial number already listed in the Registry prior to seizure?

If so, please summarize (without identifying individuals) whether the record related to a current licence holder, dealer, or exempt entity.

Effectiveness or assessment

Was any internal evaluation, debrief, or statistical note produced that comments on the Registry’s role, value, or relevance in this incident?

If not registry-assisted

If the Firearms Registry did not play a role, please indicate in general terms how the firearms were discovered (e.g. through a search warrant arising from other intelligence or public information).

Format

Please provide any written material as PDF or DOCX, and any structured data in machine-readable format (CSV, XLSX, etc.).

Clarification regarding scope and prejudice

This request seeks only general information about whether and how the Firearms Registry contributed to the investigation.
It does not seek details that could identify individuals, informants, investigative techniques, or evidence chains.
Accordingly, releasing the information requested would not prejudice the maintenance of the law, the conduct of any prosecution, or any ongoing investigation under section 6 of the Act.
If portions of the information are genuinely sensitive, I am happy for them to be redacted under section 9(2)(a) or for you to summarize the information at a high level.

Administrative notes

This request is limited to the specific West Auckland incident described in the NZ Herald article dated 10 October 2025.

If any part of the request is considered too broad, please contact me to refine it.

If information is withheld, please cite the specific section(s) of the Act relied upon.

Yours faithfully,

Malcolm Lock