The government is to establish a firearms register and make major changes to the licensing regime, in the second phase of gun law reforms. Gun owners will be required to sign up to the register when they get a licence, get one renewed, or when they buy or sell firearms. If a licence holder is not on the register after five years, they will have to proactively sign up. The new bill will also impose a licensing regime on approximately 260 shooting clubs and ranges, which are currently unregulated. "Successive governments have known since the Thorp review of 1997 that our gun laws were too weak.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 22, 2019 04:07 UTC