Arms control reforms to kick in

There will be a greater chance of catching a would-be terrorist as sweeping arms control changes take effect in the coming months, Police Minister Chris Hipkins says.

A series of fundamental change to arms control – recommended by the Royal Commission into the Christchurch mosques terror attack – will be in place before the end of the year, with a new police firearms unit is set to be launched, the first stage of a firearm registry system opening, and gun clubs and ranges facing new regulations.

The changes have been, and remain, contentious among firearm users.

But Hipkins said the coming ‘‘milestones’’ were being better received by the gun clubs, and would tighten a system the royal commission said was ‘‘lax, open to easy exploitation and was gamed’’ by the Christchurch mosque terrorist.

‘‘You’re never going to completely there’s no such thing as an 100% foolproof process,’’ Hipkins said. ‘‘But if you look at the cumulative effect of the changes, more thorough vetting around the licence renewals, changes to clubs and ranges – bearing in mind that the individual was involved in a shooting club and there were some potential red flags in there that were missed – that will get picked up more with the club and range regulation that’s going through. There will be more chance of picking up someone like that.’’

A new, $208 million firearms ‘‘business unit’’ within police would launch before the end of the year, assembling the about 200 staff across the country that currently run the firearm licencing system.

Hipkins said he expected police to take a ‘‘risk based approach’’ to handling firearm licences, putting high-risk gun owners at the top of a pile.

The Government would be considering raising the fees for applying and renewing licences to fund the police unit. At $126.50 for a new licence, Hipkins said it was a comparatively low fee and a ‘‘tiny fraction’’ of the actual cost of processing.

A firearms registry would be in place in 2023, but before then firearm owners would be able to begin entering their details into a new online system, called ‘‘MyFirearms’’, set to launch before Christmas.

New regulations for firearms clubs and ranges would be published in the coming week, with a deadline of June 2023 to comply.