Thread: Firearm licencing

Originally Posted by cambo

I filled out the dissatisfaction survey on the Police website and got rung up a couple days later.
My renewal is finally getting actioned...... funny that


https://forms.police.govt.nz/complaint

This is a fundamental thing we should ALL be doing at the slightest whiff of unfairness, order inconsistency, unreasonableness or failure in the licensing process.

The simple reason is that it creates an auditable record of Police's failings in the administration of the Arms act. No senior Management likes bad stats against their accountabilities, and politically (especially after Chch) Police should be bending over backwards to ensure they're on top of this. But they're not.

Every chance you get, fill in this form.

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in South Africa, we first have to obtain a competency certificate.
this entails writing a small test on the fire arm act and then shooting with the weapon you are doing competency for (hand weapon, slr, bolt action or shot gun).
once you have done this, this will then be vetted by the police.
with competency in had you can then apply for a particular fire arm. a licence is connected to a serial number thus if you want to buy a new fire arm you get a new license.
I did my competency June 2019 . got my competency certificate in Dec 2019.
Applied for fire arm (308 win) in Feb, license was approved a week ago.

12 month still I do not have my firearm at home because they have to first print the license card.

My licence expired during the first lockdown but I’ve got my renewal now. I’ve waited to get it sorted before adding to this thread. The arms officer asked to look in my safe when I said no she said I wasn’t a fit and proper person. So I told her I would open it under duress, which I did, she then counted my rifles and noted down how many I had.
I recommend everyone remove their guns before getting interviewed I wish I had only had a single .22 in my safe now.

Originally Posted by 2post

My licence expired during the first lockdown but I’ve got my renewal now. I’ve waited to get it sorted before adding to this thread. The arms officer asked to look in my safe when I said no she said I wasn’t a fit and proper person. So I told her I would open it under duress, which I did, she then counted my rifles and noted down how many I had.
I recommend everyone remove their guns before getting interviewed I wish I had only had a single .22 in my safe now.

i had a similar experience a few years back.
next time i am going to empty the safe out and fill it with nerf guns and water pistols

Originally Posted by 2post

My licence expired during the first lockdown but I’ve got my renewal now. I’ve waited to get it sorted before adding to this thread. The arms officer asked to look in my safe when I said no she said I wasn’t a fit and proper person. So I told her I would open it under duress, which I did, she then counted my rifles and noted down how many I had.
I recommend everyone remove their guns before getting interviewed I wish I had only had a single .22 in my safe now.

Fuck, do the stupid police have any idea how hated they are?

Originally Posted by 308

Fuck, do the stupid police have any idea how hated they are?

I may have left her with that impression and it required all my will power not to make it clear as I really wanted to keep my licence.

Originally Posted by 2post

My licence expired during the first lockdown but I’ve got my renewal now. I’ve waited to get it sorted before adding to this thread. The arms officer asked to look in my safe when I said no she said I wasn’t a fit and proper person. So I told her I would open it under duress, which I did, she then counted my rifles and noted down how many I had.
I recommend everyone remove their guns before getting interviewed I wish I had only had a single .22 in my safe now.

that's interesting as I was expecting the same when they came round for interveiws for the wife and my son , both at the same time. Asked to see the safe, which was ok, but when I said I would have to get the key from it's hiding place they said that they didn't need to see inside, just know that we had one.

Originally Posted by Ftx325

that's interesting as I was expecting the same when they came round for interveiws for the wife and my son , both at the same time. Asked to see the safe, which was ok, but when I said I would have to get the key from it's hiding place they said that they didn't need to see inside, just know that we had one.

I wish I had thought of that.
Different arms officer though I might have just got one with power issues.

Originally Posted by 2post

I wish I had thought of that.
Different arms officer though I might have just got one with power issues.

distinct possibility. I think it probably helped in my case that I have had my licence for coming up 30 yrs and the arms officer remembered me from my last renewal check so was fairly relaxed about the whole thing. Even the questions around the family members applying , got the distinct impression he was just going through the motions and he even said that being a gun owner and hunter for so long and having the family growing up using firearms he had no problems signing off on them. It is new applicants with no history of firearms or hunting in the family that he looks for reasons not to give them the licence as he worries about their and others safety out bush. I must admit I was actually quite impressed with his attitude towards the whole situation as I was expecting a bit of stress but his whole demeanor changed as soon as he recognised me. Perhaps we were just lucky and got him on a good day.

Originally Posted by 2post

My licence expired during the first lockdown but I’ve got my renewal now. I’ve waited to get it sorted before adding to this thread. The arms officer asked to look in my safe when I said no she said I wasn’t a fit and proper person. So I told her I would open it under duress, which I did, she then counted my rifles and noted down how many I had.
I recommend everyone remove their guns before getting interviewed I wish I had only had a single .22 in my safe now.

Was she actually an arms officer of a "vetter" ?

When my son got his FAL the vetting lady asked to see my gunsafe(s).
When she was shown these she asked if I should boxes of ammunition on top a safe.
She couldn't or didn't distinguish between factory ammunition and factory projectiles.

Of course I replied ammunition should be locked away, components (projectiles, powder and primers) not so much.

Originally Posted by Cyclops

Was she actually an arms officer of a "vetter" ?

When my son got his FAL the vetting lady asked to see my gunsafe(s).
When she was shown these she asked if I should boxes of ammunition on top a safe.
She couldn't or didn't distinguish between factory ammunition and factory projectiles.

Of course I replied ammunition should be locked away, components (projectiles, powder and primers) not so much.

She may have just been a vetter but was an ex cop.
Having looked in my safe and after I had locked it up she couldn’t remember how many guns were in there, I remained silent and just said you had a look? She wrote down 4 of 5. I would not confirm or deny. I still feel violated.

I'm in the process of getting my B endorsement and so far it's been pretty good. My probation period was interrupted by lock down. Once I had completed it and sat my safety and range test I sent the form off to PNZ. They informed me they had sent it off to the police 2 weeks later and advised me to contact the arms officer. After a couple of phone calls and an email a very nice lady contacted me to apologise for not being in touch sooner, confirm they had received it and the vetting officer would be in touch. He called me within a few days to arrange a time to suit both me and my wife. Less than a week later he was round to interview me and my wife and check my security. He didn't over step his authority and was friendly and efficient. He had over an hours drive to my place and visited after we had got home from work. He had already been to see the club secretary.
He said the file would be reviewed but could see no problems and hoped my card would be with me in 2 to 3 weeks. He said to allow a month just in case.
He did say they did have a backlog of renewals but they had cleared most of it now.
I must say I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised after hearing of the problems others are having. Really can't say enough good about the arms office in Whangarei.

Originally Posted by Hutch

I'm in the process of getting my B endorsement and so far it's been pretty good. My probation period was interrupted by lock down. Once I had completed it and sat my safety and range test I sent the form off to PNZ. They informed me they had sent it off to the police 2 weeks later and advised me to contact the arms officer. After a couple of phone calls and an email a very nice lady contacted me to apologise for not being in touch sooner, confirm they had received it and the vetting officer would be in touch. He called me within a few days to arrange a time to suit both me and my wife. Less than a week later he was round to interview me and my wife and check my security. He didn't over step his authority and was friendly and efficient. He had over an hours drive to my place and visited after we had got home from work. He had already been to see the club secretary.
He said the file would be reviewed but could see no problems and hoped my card would be with me in 2 to 3 weeks. He said to allow a month just in case.
He did say they did have a backlog of renewals but they had cleared most of it now.
I must say I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised after hearing of the problems others are having. Really can't say enough good about the arms office in Whangarei.

I received my new card today, just over 3 weeks after the visit from the vetting officer.

If you have anyone over the age of 18 living at your home that is not a referree for your application, you will need to have them also fill out extra forms to give their permission to be interviewed.
And quite possibly any regular visitors to your home.

They now require everyone living with you, at least, to be interviewed.

This is in addition to your references on the application form

Bit of news.....

As on the PNZ website, any FAL that expires between Mar 25 and Sept 25 AND the renewal process has started will get a 12mth extention to the expiry date while the renewal process is undertaken. Just had that confirmed.
After Sept 25 any renewals will mean the FAL will be for a 5yr period instead of the usual 10yrs.