ACT's firearms and hunting policy — driven by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee — aims to restore a fair legal framework for New Zealand's estimated 245,000 licensed firearms owners, hunters, and sporting shooters by repealing and replacing the 1983 Arms Act with a modern, public-safety-centred law that reduces compliance burdens on law-abiding owners while cracking down on criminal gun use.

The Policy: ACT Firearms & Hunting Policy — act.org.nz →

What it does

• Arms Act replaced: The Arms Bill, introduced 8 December 2025, repeals and replaces the 40-year-old Arms Act 1983 with over 50 policy changes — ACT's flagship firearms commitment from the 2023 coalition agreement.
• New independent regulator: A Firearms Regulatory Agency, separate from the Police, is established. Its chief executive is appointed by the Governor-General, not the Police Commissioner — ending what McKee called "blue shirts" controlling the licensing system.
• Flexible storage rules: Licensed owners can now store firearms at any regulator-approved location, not only their primary residence — a practical win for farmers, hunters with multiple properties, and shooting clubs.
• Longer licensing cycles: Pest controller endorsements extended from 2.5 to 5 years; license processing extensions of up to three years to cut backlogs.
• Criminal enforcement tightened: Gang membership automatically disqualifies someone from holding a firearms licence; 60+ existing offences receive increased penalties; eight new offences created including possession of 3D-printing blueprints for ghost guns and unlicensed ammunition manufacturing.
• Red flag system: Inter-agency information sharing allows Police and other agencies to flag whether a current licence holder remains "fit and proper."
• Independent appeals body: A Firearms Licensing Review Committee (with a lawyer, a licence holder representative, and a regulatory appointee) hears disputes — replacing opaque Police-run decisions.
• Hunting access defended: ACT's policy also commits to formal hunter representation in conservation and game animal management, and opposes restrictions on public land access without clear safety or conservation justification.
• What did NOT change: The 2019 post-Christchurch semi-automatic ban remains fully intact. The firearms registry remains, though data collection is tightened. McKee invoked the coalition's "agree to disagree" clause on both issues after National rejected her proposals.

The result

The reform delivers meaningful gains for the 245,000 licensed firearms owners and the hunting community — better regulatory structure, fairer licensing, and practical storage flexibility — while leaving the most contested post-Christchurch restrictions untouched. Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek expressed relief that McKee's goals to eliminate the registry and restore semi-automatic access "failed on both of those goals," calling the outcome a reasonable outcome for public safety. The NZ Deerstalkers Association (NZDA) supports the Bill as a necessary step but considers it "does not yet fully deliver the legislative reset sought," noting that legitimate firearms uses — hunting, pest control, sport — are not adequately recognised as normal and socially embedded activities in the Bill's language. The NZ Council for Civil Liberties raised concern that automatic disqualification of gang members from licences will disproportionately affect Māori, given Māori are overrepresented in gang membership data. The Police Association's Chris Cahill had earlier dismissed ACT's registry opposition as "all rubbish," arguing the registry prevents licence holders from on-selling to criminals. McKee herself acknowledged the compromise: "ACT faced a choice on firearms: die in a ditch over the registry and semi autos and get no improvements at all — or take 95 percent of the win."

The impacts to watch

• Select committee process: The Arms Bill was referred to the Justice Committee after its first reading; oral submissions were heard in March 2026. The final shape of the law could shift significantly from what was introduced.
• Regulator independence in practice: Whether the new Firearms Regulatory Agency genuinely operates free of Police influence will determine whether licensing backlogs and perceived bias actually improve.
• Hunting on conservation land: Proposed formal hunter representation in pest control and game animal management could reshape how DOC manages public land — a significant second-order shift for conservation policy.
• Gang disqualification and Māori: The automatic disqualification of gang members is likely to face sustained legal challenge on discrimination grounds; the Law Society also noted the lack of analysis of its impact on Māori.
• Registry data tightening: Strict limits on what the registry can collect may satisfy some owners' privacy concerns without satisfying either side of the debate completely.
• 3D printing offences: New criminal liability for possessing digital blueprints for firearms sets a precedent for regulating information — with potential implications for free speech and cybersecurity policy.