Tarrant ‘may not have got hold of guns’

NZ First firearms spokesman Ron Mark says an independent authority in charge of firearms licences may have prevented mosque gunman Brenton Tarrant from legally buying military-style firearms.

Moving the administration of firearms licences away from police and into an independent entity is one of the changes that NZ First has successfully pushed for in the Government’s second phase of gun law reforms.

The changes also include allowing farmers to use military-style firearms for pest control without having to set up a company, pushing out the implementation of a national register of firearms to three years instead of two, and reviewing the legislation after three years instead of five.

New legislation and funding will be needed for the new independent entity to oversee firearms licences, and options will be reported back to Cabinet by the end of the year.

Police have defended the handling of Tarrant’s firearms-licence application, but it has been reported that officers failed to interview or even call a family member as required, instead relying on two men who met the terrorist via an internet chat room.

An applicant must provide two referees to be interviewed by police vetting staff, one of whom has to be a next of kin, and the second an unrelated person who knows the applicant well.

The application is also meant to be re-checked before a licence is issued.

Tarrant was granted a licence and stockpiled military-style firearms that he used in his March 15 terrorist attack, in which he killed 51 people.

Mark said Tarrant may not have got a licence if his application had been vetted by an independent authority made up of experts.

“If the licensing process had been run differently, it would have definitely made a difference,” he said.

“Why would you give someone a licence if you’re unable to thoroughly backcheck their history, minimum 10 years? Why . . . give them a licence at all if key parts of that interview process had not been completed?”

Police had previously admitted to dropping the ball over handling firearms licences in general, and Mark was happy for the system to be taken off them.

“Their technical knowledge around firearms is poor and they’ve made mistakes. You need people who are specialists and who can maintain good, respectful relationship both with the police and with the firearms community.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern would not be drawn on whether an independent authority would have made a difference, saying she awaited the Royal Commission findings, due at the end of July.