Thread: .303 Tank crew carbine

Originally Posted by gundoc

Do you have a reference or date for that decision? This is quite important as the method of measuring the overall length of a firearm had already been established in a court case many years ago. The term 'overall length' has been established as 'the longest physical dimension' and that measurement is usually from the muzzle to the toe of the stock (not necessarily parallel to the bore). It is important to note the 'muzzle' is not always the end of the barrel but the part where the bullet exits the firearm. That includes parts of the firearm that are in the original design and not readily removeable without tools and/or specialised knowledge. The law has not changed and the current Arms Act, Section 2, Interpretation, states; pistol means a firearm (other than a prohibited firearm or restricted weapon) that is designed or adapted to be held and fired with 1 hand, and includes any firearm (other than a prohibited firearm or restricted weapon) that is less than 762 millimetres in length.

After some searching on this topic I found heated discussion about it being 'Police policy' not legistation, and links to the police official decision on their website has since been removed.

Check these links on the bottom of this page and the last page of this thread.

https://kiwigunblog.wordpress.com/20...-policy-again/

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....62/index5.html

I also found a letter of legal opinion from Nicholas Taylor so this policy may have been challenged post the court case that the accused was found guilty. Its a pdf so I cant share it here but it comes up in google.

I cant see any changes made to the arms act so I think just maybe the policy never got traction.
Interestingly my arms officer relayed this method of measuring oal to me so I will go back to him and ask for the reference to actual law stating this.

Great news if they pulled their heads in as I can make a much better Delisle suppressor with the shorter barrels