COLFO has slammed Government retention of Labour’s firearm registry as a “foolhardy misuse of public money” because it has not made the public safer and there are no plans to measure safety improvements in the future.

COLFO spokesperson Hugh Devereux-Mack says it appears from a statement today by Associate Justice Minister and Act MP Nicole McKee that National wants the register to continue.

“National wants to continue with the expensive illusion that a firearm register makes the public safer. The nation can’t afford to pay for such an illusion.

“This is the worst kind of policymaking. They cannot point to a reduction in firearm crime, and they have not set a target for the future. There are no targets for the percentage of firearms registered, a target reduction in crime, nor a timeframe.”

COLFO recommends the Government reviews the registry each year, looking for a downward trend in firearm crime once half the licensed firearm owners are registered. This was the premise on which the registry was introduced; that registering firearms would reduce firearm crime

Devereux-Mack urges National to meet with any of the nation’s 240,000 licensed firearm holders to learn more about the issue, policy targets, and frustrations over the registry.

“They need to engage more with affected citizens, and less with Wellington activists.”

“Registries have never reduced firearm incidents anywhere in the world, and it will take a more courageous National Party than this one to shift taxpayers’ money to fighting criminals,” he says.

Devereux-Mack says an increase in the number of registered firearms will be undermined by the rise in 3D printing of firearms, admitted recently by the Police.

“3D firearms, printed at home, change everything – and destroy the small influence of a registry.

“When you can make a firearm easily at home, outside traditional importation and retail, and never register it, a registry is render completely useless. The money is better spent on direct policing – finding criminals and their 3D firearms,” he says.

He says the registry has definitively failed in the only measurement kept; data security. Trust in Police to keep firearms registry data secure rated 1.3 out of 10 in the annual COLFO trust survey. Privacy breaches by Police almost doubled in number after the registry was introduced.

Police’s annual review in 2024 showed 492 breaches in the 12 months to July 2024, up from 281 the year before and just over 90 five years ago. Many of those involved the new firearms registry.

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