New Zealand's New Gun Laws Ban Certain Imports

New Zealand implemented a range of gun control regulations on April 12, banning most semi-automatic firearms and introducing penalties for importing guns without a permit, according to an April 17 notice from Baker McKenzie and the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office. The regulations also contain provisions that can penalize exporters or importers who “knowingly [supply] or [sell] a prohibited firearm or prohibited magazine to a person who does not hold a permit to import or possess one,” according to Baker McKenzie.

Any “prohibited items” -- including firearms, certain magazines and certain gun parts -- imported after April 12 may be seized, according to the notice. The regulations contain a provision that make any prohibited import, including firearms, “subject to the control of the New Zealand Customs Service.”

Certain firearm-related products with a valid permit that were imported before April 12 but which have not yet cleared customs have been labeled “prohibited goods,” the notice said, and all import permits issued before April 12 for any prohibited items are revoked. Customs may send the now-prohibited goods to New Zealand police, according to the notice. Importers will be liable for any “payment of outstanding duty on the importations of the prohibited items,” the notice added. The regulations also allow for a six-month amnesty period “so that those in possession of prohibited items have time to notify Police and can hand over their firearms to Police at a later stage when we advise of that process,” the notice said.