14 June 2019
Our Reference: IR-01-19-7765
Mark Hanna
Email: [FYI request #9872 email]
Dear Mark
I am writing to you in response to your request dated 17 March 2019. You said:
I am interested in information regarding the success rate of applications for firearm
licences, and for firearm licence endorsements.
Please release the following information for the years 2015-2019, broken down by
year, by police district, and by successful and failed applications:
1. The number of applications for each type of firearm licence…
a. where the applicant has not previously held this type of licence.
b. where the applicant has previously held this type of licence (i.e. applying
for a renewal, or their licence had expired).
2. The number of applications for each type of firearm licence endorsement….
a. where the applicant has not previously held this type of licence
endorsement.
b. where the applicant has previously held this type of licence endorsement
(i.e. applying for a renewal, or their licence had expired).
Please also explain any relevant caveats that should be kept in mind when analysing
this information.
I understand that some applications (particularly those made in 2019) may not yet
have been fully completed, and therefore would not qualify as either successful or as
failed. If the number of these applications is easy to include, I would be happy for it to
be included. However, if it makes this request easier to process, I would also be
happy for these applications to be excluded.
Please provide this information in a machine-readable spreadsheet format, such as
CSV or XLSX.
If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.
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
If any of the information that I have requested is unavailable or would be difficult to
retrieve, but similar information might be readily available, I would be happy to
discuss altering or refining my request.
The number of firearms licences, dealer licences, and visitor licences processed by New
Zealand Police, by Police District where the licence holder currently resides, by licence
type, and by year of application (1 Jan 2015 - 16 May 2019), is provided in the Excel file
attached with this response. The licences have been granted, refused, or other. 'Other'
can be licences that are still being processed, licences that were surrendered before the
application was finalised, or licences that were cancelled. Please note that this is not the
current status of the licences – some may have been granted, but later revoked,
surrendered, or cancelled. Visitor licences do not get renewed, so are marked as N/A in
that column.
The number of endorsements processed by New Zealand Police, by Police District where
the licence holder currently resides, by endorsement type, and by year of application (1
Jan 2015 - 16 May 2019), is provided in the Excel file attached with this response. The
endorsements have been granted, refused, or other. 'Other' can be endorsements that
are still being processed, endorsements that were surrendered before the application was
finalised, or endorsements on licences that were cancelled. Please note that this is not
the current status of the endorsements – some may have been granted, but later
revoked, surrendered, or cancelled. Only visitor and standard licences can have
endorsements. All E endorsements were revoked on 12 April 2019 by new legislation.
The Police District of each licence holder is based on the address that the firearms
licence holder has provided as their home address. There are some instances where the
address is not directly geocoded to a District and these are shown as Not Geocoded.
Police still have the address of each individual, but it would require substantial collation to
attribute each one to a District. This Not Geocoded number also includes any individuals
who are currently overseas but maintain their New Zealand firearms licence.
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
