Basic licence ticket to armour-piercing

High-powered sniper rifles designed to fire armour-piercing rounds up to 2km can be purchased in New Zealand with the most basic firearms licence.

Military around the world use semiautomatic models of the .50 calibre rifles, but Kiwi gun stores sell boltaction versions for less than $10,000.

Anyone wanting to buy a restricted weapon must give a “good reason” to police for it to be approved, and hold a standard A-category licence.

Someone as young as 16 can get an A-category licence.

But after the Christchurch killings, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said our gun laws will change.

“As soon as New Zealanders hear this person was legally able to acquire those weapons and carry out this event, that will raise enormous questions with our gun laws,” she said.

Most of the focus has been on a loophole allowing semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15 to be bought with a standard A-category licence. But these weapons can be converted into military-style semiautomatic (MSSA) by simply inserting a high-capacity magazine.

Anyone — with or without a licence — can buy high-capacity magazines which can hold up to 100 rounds.

This gap in the law was exploited by the man accused of the shootings.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said “middle New Zealand” would be shocked that .50 calibre weapons, designed to destroy vehicles, are readily available.

“I think most people would ask why you’d need a gun like that. It shows how antiquated our gun laws are. It also shows there are more issues than just MSSA,” said Cahill. “We need urgent action. But we also need a more in-depth look at some of the other issues and loopholes.”

A briefing last November to Police Minister Stuart Nash highlighted “gaps” in the law making it difficult or impossible to enforce it, the Herald revealed. The briefing responded to Nash asking if police were putting enough resources into enforcement of obligations of licence holders.

“It is not solely a question of resourcing, though the gap between revenue from the licensing and permitting regime and the costs of

managing that regime is large and growing,” the report said.

“Beyond resource limitations, there are gaps in the legislative system that make the system difficult or unable to be enforced.”

As well as pointing out the lack of regulation on MSSA parts, police noted several other loopholes.

While it is an offence to supply “A category” firearms to anyone without a licence, there is no requirement on non-dealers (the majority of firearms licence holders) to maintain a record of the person to whom they sold the firearm.

There is also no system to confirm a licence status and no requirement to record sales of ammunition.