Parliament passes the Arms Bill

After six years of work, the broken Arms Act 1983 will finally be repealed and replaced with a law that gives licenced firearm owners the respect they deserve by treating them as the law-abiding New Zealanders they are.

When I entered Parliament in 2020, I did so with a clear goal to completely rewrite New Zealand’s firearms laws. Today, with the korowai gifted to me by the council of licenced firearm owners resting on my shoulders, that goal was achieved.

The new law improves the firearms system by:

• Separating firearms regulation from police and the creation of a new arms regulator. No sworn police officers will work for the new regulator.

• Establishing an independent firearms licencing review committee to challenge decisions made by the regulator.

• Extending pest control endorsements to five years and allowing multi-user agreements for short term transfers of restricted firearms.

• Removing the need for a permit to posses or registry transfers for short-term business activities such as taking a firearm to a gunsmith for less than 21 days.

• Extending multiple-consignment import permits for business licence holders so they remain valid for 12 months.

• Extending business licence duration to five years for those with a proven compliance record.

• Requiring the regulator to consult directly with the firearms community and publish guidance on the regulator website.

• Removing the ability for the regulator to include information in the firearms registry that is not required by regulations.

• Allowing multi-entry visitor licences of up to 18 months.

• Allowing health-related suspensions for up to 12 months so individuals have time to obtain medical reports, implement mitigations, or seek help. 

• Enabling infringement powers for low-level non-compliance, rather than simply punitive revocations.

• Disqualifying gang members from holding a firearms licence.

• Clarifying that secure storage can be at any premises approved by the regulator, not just the licence holder’s primary residence.

• Restricting large-capacity pistol magazines to only those who hold a pistol licence.

• Increasing penalties for some offences and creating eight new offences, including ones to reduce firearms entering the black market.

• Removing unnecessary rules affecting licence holders, clubs, businesses, gunsmiths, museums, hunters, and pest controllers

• Making the law easier to understand and comply with.

In addition, new regulations to give effect to the changes in the Bill will come into force at the same time as most provisions of the Bill on 23 September this year.

The new regulations will:

• Reduce the number of scheduled pistol shooting activities required to maintain a pistol endorsement from 12 to 10 each year

• Clarify that secure storage can be at any premises approved by the regulator, not just the licence holder’s primary residence.

• Require the regulator to consult directly with the firearms community and publish guidance on the regulator website.

Most importantly, this law was not written in a panic.

Thousands of licenced firearm owners, clubs, ranges, businesses, hunters, collectors, gunsmiths, and other New Zealanders took the time to make submissions and share their practical experience. You were heard.

The Bill had a full six month select committee process, not a rushed three day submission process as we saw under Labour’s changes.

Many of the improvements made to the Bill came directly from the firearms community. That is how enduring law should be made: through proper consultation, careful scrutiny, and respect for the people who must live under it.

But I will not pretend ACT got everything we wanted.

ACT remains opposed to the firearms registry. We invoked the agree-to-disagree provision in our coalition agreement because we do not believe the registry justifies its cost, bureaucracy, or privacy and security risks. Criminals will not register their unlawfully held firearms simply because the law tells them to.

The registry will remain because our coalition partners would not agree to remove it. However, I secured strict legal limits on the information the regulator can collect and how it may be used.

I also proposed a narrow pathway that would have allowed experienced, certified club members to compete with restricted firearms under strict conditions. I believed this could be done safely. Our coalition partners rejected it.

I tell you this because firearm owners deserve honesty about where the parties stand.

ACT was the only party to vote against Labour’s rushed firearm laws in 2019. National and New Zealand First supported them.

Today is an important milestone, but passing the Bill is not the end of the job.

The new Act must now be implemented. Regulations must be written, systems established, staff appointed, and the culture of the new regulator formed. A good law can still be undermined by poor regulations, hostile implementation, or a bureaucracy that treats every licence holder with suspicion.

That is why it is vital that ACT returns to Government and retains responsibility for firearms.

An ACT Minister must oversee the implementation of the new Arms Act, hold the new regulator accountable, and ensure the regulations reflect what Parliament intended.

We have already secured $44.9 million in Budget 2026 to implement the reforms and establish the independent regulator. Without that funding, firearms licensing fees could have increased to as much as six and a half times their current level. Because ACT was at the table, any increases will not be required for at least two years. Hopefully longer.

But the next Government will decide who finishes the job.

Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori have shown repeatedly that they do not understand or respect licenced firearm ownership.

And while our current coalition partners are better than the alternative, the registry and restricted-firearms debate show that only ACT can be relied upon to consistently represent licenced firearm owners.

That is why your Party Vote matters.

The stronger ACT is after the election, the more influence we will have to ensure the new law is implemented properly – and to go further where our coalition partners have held us back.

ACT’s full 2026 firearms policy is still to be announced.

Today’s passage of the Arms Bill is a major achievement, but it is not the end of our ambition for a fairer, safer, and more practical firearms system. Thank you for your submissions, your support, your patience, and your determination over the past six years.

We have come a long way together. Now we need to finish the job.

Party Vote ACT.

Thank you for your support.

Hon Nicole McKee Deputy Leader ACT New Zealand

P.S. You may be interested to also know that over the weekend, I announced ACT’s new Backing Hunters policy at the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Hunting and Wildlife Expo. It puts hunters at the centre of managing game animals, backs the volunteers maintaining our backcountry, improves access, and protects lawful hunting from deliberate interference. You can read the full policy here.