You should inquire whether the alternative of a negative Covid test will suffice.
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My sons application went through, hes done the MS course and passed the test.....that was over 12mths now.
Still no interviews been done.
Depends on the region, licence and if its renewal or a new licence. I got my B-cat renewal back in about 3 months. My Mrs new B-cat took 5 months to come back.
Taking to the vetter that came around, Hawkes Bay is not too far behind but most of the delays are at the Kapati Main office end. They also lost a lot of vetters after they when to PDF's on laptops rather than paper, a lot of the older guys just stopped doing it as it was too much hassle.
Looking forward to when my privilege finally gets processed. March last year and waiting still...
I just dont understand why this is all taking so long. Councils have 20 days to process a building consent and those are far more complex than this. Heck, outsource it to them!
I got my renewal sorted before Christmas.
I applied mid May.
Got it mid December.
I'm also endorsed. New licences look a tad different.
Yep you have to understand that Prior to the Mosque shooting the Police were actively looking to make the licencing system an online platform and a number of the vetting officers were told they would no longer be required. This was the plan, however port the shooting we have now seen increased legislation being drafted (poorly)which increases the scope of factors which need to be addressed when a firearms licence application is made. We have also seen the creation of additional licence categories and a reduction in the time a firearms licence is valid.
Governments draft legislation without any regard to the flow on consequences of any agency involved, in this case the Police. The Police budget was not increased to cover the additional work load, hence the issues everyone is now facing. This Government have no regard for firearms licence holders and could not care less about the issues licence holders are facing.
You also have to remember that internal Police Policy and focus is set by PNHQ and with a commissioner who is very political his focus will not be on rectifying this as they do not have the funding, nor is it a priority.
For those questioning about the renewal of a firearms licence, Section 25 (1) outlines the process of renewals)
A firearms licence comes into force on the date specified in the licence and,
unless revoked or surrendered earlier,—
(a) expires 5 years from that date in the case of—
(i) a licence issued to a person who has never previously held a firearms licence; or
(ii) a licence issued to a person whose previous licence was revoked
or surrendered; or
(iii) a licence issued to a person who allowed their previous licence to
expire without applying for a new licence before the expiry date:
(b) expires 10 years from that date in any other case
The problem here is that we all have 10 year licences, which the act does not cover, so while you are covered during your renewal of a 5 year licence, it does not mention the renewal of a 10 year licence as your licence expires after 10 years and there appears to be no grace period.
I would urge all licence holders to download the new arms legislation and have a good look at everything this new act encompasses.
Check out section 24A fit and proper person, pay attention to section (C) which outlines some of the other legislation which is now included in the fit and proper person assessment, these were added and include the following
A Fit and proper person to possess firearm or airgun
(1) For the purposes of this Act, a member of the Police may find a person is not a
fit and proper person to be in possession of a firearm or an airgun if the member of the Police is satisfied that 1 or more of the following circumstances
exist:
(a) the person is charged with or has been convicted of an offence in New
Zealand or overseas that is punishable by a term of imprisonment
(including, but not limited to, an offence involving violence, drugs, or
alcohol):
(b) the person is charged with or has been convicted of an offence under this
Act:
(c) the person is charged with or has been convicted of an offence against—
(i) section 231A of the Crimes Act 1961; or
(ii) the Game Animal Council Act 2013; or
(iii) the Wildlife Act 1953; or
(iv) the Wild Animal Control Act 1977:
2020 No 23 Arms Legislation Act 2020 Part 1 s 42
45
(d) the person has, or has had at any time, a temporary protection order
made against them under—
(i) section 79 of the Family Violence Act 2018; or
(ii) section 14 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995:
Its important to read the above acts and look at the interpretations at the start of each act as these define the legal scope covered by the act, you many be surprised how open these interpretations are and how wide ranging section 24A is.
Note the key phase used throughout this legislation which is charged or convicted, you are guilty until proven innocent in this case, once charged you are no longer deemed to be a fit and proper person. I understand why this is drafted like this but its has a very open scope, Unfortunately most offences are punishable by imprisonment, it not your sentencing, you may not have gone to prison but if the offence is punishable by imprisonment it can be used against you.
The key thing to remember is that make sure everything related to your security and use of firearms is in order so that if you find your self in the unfortunate position of having your fit and proper person status questioned you can mitigate things by displaying that you are a responsible firearms licence holder. Believe me this fit and proper person clause gives the Police a lot of scope to challenge your status if they so desire.
Local vetting officer passed away last week, he was a great guy, had something called logic.
There was a thread somewhere re safe capacity but cannot find it and add to it.
Just received this in a newsletter from Andrew Edgecombe Antique Arms, also member of the firearms committee -
I had a concerned party contact me regarding storage capacity of his safes as this was queried during his licence renewal process.
In my view capacity is something that will have numerous variables, what firearms are stored in said safe for example as some such as .22 boys rifles will take up little space and others such as scoped sporting rifles or fully wooded .303’s will take more room to store, also rifles can be “ top and tailed” to maximise storage capacity. Thus overall capacity is quite hard to establish ( within reason). Currently there is no limit on storage or for that matter the number of firearms a person may own is the arms act. I expressed my concern at this question being asked and received the following reply.
Taking down the capacity of a safe is something that will become standard as we get into the registry and shouldn’t be something that anyone should be concerned about. For the example below, I’m not sure why our team member asked the question and would note that we have nowhere to record the information gained in any easily recoverable way from our current system.
ENDS
So it looks like we may need to declare storage capacity in future which may be able to be cross referenced against the firearms we have registered to us ( as police seem hell bent on registration despite the obvious deficiencies and potential for failure.)
Hang in there lads. I just had my interview and it was quite well done tbh. Wifey said the same. Very thorough and on point. Hopefully the wait times can come down under the TLS instead of lockdown levels thing.
I presented at the firearms office two weeks back to get a permit to procure and was informed that Police records showed that since my last renewal I no longer have the endorsement that allows me to have the firearm. I guess that the letter that looks like a B on my current FAL is just an apparition and isn’t really there. Sorted though and permit obtained and firearm properly transferred between owners but this incident has only served to reinforce my belief about the inability of Police to maintain accurate records.
Anyone know what the current timeframe is on a license renewal in the Christchurch/Canterbury area is?
New application in Auckland since July 2020 until now still no reply.
Call them many times and always same answers aka waiting to have vetting officer assigned.
Many (not all) other non essential public services, which requires face to face meeting during the application process, are basically barely functioning at the moment.
The questions in the interview are all common sense type ones as you'd imagine. So far its been just on 11 months to get sorted. But seeings how they extended things to cover the expired licences its just a formality now.
Applied in July 2020? Maaate, I thought I had it bad! Mine went in to Wellington on November 16th 2020, so I'm 14 months tomorrow... might get a wee cake to celebrate. My license expired while I was away, and attempts to renew while here on hol failed, so it was recorded as surrendered - hence having to start from scratch.
Fiiiinally had my interview about 6 weeks ago, and now have been asked to get a police record certificate thing from British Police, as that's where I spent the last 13 years, which is probably fair. British Police says it's 14 days to process (but undergoing delays of +7-10 days), then they have to post the original copy, so I'm calling that another month, then however long it takes to finalise the process here once they receive the police check, and get the magic bit of plastic in the post. Gunworks will be getting the green light on a Howa Mini-action .223 the very farking second it arrives!
@Tall kiwi, two schools of thought, one is to be the squeaky wheel, the other is to just remain patient and philosophical, and find something else to do in the mean time... Get your gun cabinet in (basically get it from anywhere BUT H&F or GunCity! - I got a Stealth one from Outdoor Supplies - better quality for your money, and independent!), I bought a fishing rod and threw endless amounts of gear and bait into the sea, and also tagged along on hunting trips with other people any time I could (which was just twice...). I went for the latter approach, as was worried kicking up a stink might do the opposite of speeding things up. I was just in regular contact, asking for estimated timeframes, when my referees were due to be interviewed, how long after that would my interview be, made myself available at short notice in case of any cancelled slots, emailed again saying "last time you said it was this long, any change"... So actually, reading that back, maybe an extremely polite squeaky wheel? My view is they're under the hammer, and the last thing they need is yet another angry bugger giving them grief... and I wasn't angry about it anyway.
One key issue, was that my application went in on the paper application form, then they transferred to digital a few days later, and mine fell through the gaps, so was sitting there from November till June. When they worked that out, I had to do the online application. Actually @hakka_ranger, that might be worth checking, as the timing is about right - you would have done the paper application? Have you had to do the digital one?
The guy interviewing me was awesome, and said they're all painfully aware of the delays, but availability is an issue, the process is 'very rigourous', and COVID restrictions haven't helped. Not sure I can subscribe to the theory that they have made the process harder/longer so people don't apply or give up - I don't think anyone deserves that much credit... . It's been a pretty screwed up couple of years for many reasons.
Anyway, that's my blah, blah, blah.
Heard a story of someone who had waited two years... Then a well-aimed email had it in his mailbox VERY quickly thereafter.
Fun times, eh.
Thanks for the info. Im quietly hoping things are a little bit faster now that everything is digital, but who knows... I could be dreaming. I might have to get an air gun in the mean time to play around with and hunt bunnies at the in-laws property while I wait for my license.
I’ve just gone through the process for new licence in Northland took 5 weeks just waiting on licence in mail.
Friday- Clean application no convictions and uploaded everything digitally.
Monday - Received registration for MSC. Signed up to the last spot available 5 minutes later.
Saturday - MSC course
4 weeks later - Interviews and job done.
Vetter was good for a yarn and quite common sense even gave a bunch of tips. Questions were pretty limited as referee and wife answered most of it. He said renewals were backlogged and took priority but now they’re caught up (or closer to) things should move a bit quicker. He said delays also happen depending on workload and location of interviews etc as in his example he’s covering 3 positions across Northland due to staffing issues. He also said if it’s a clean application where everything is present and correct it makes a big difference.
From SSANZ today.....
MORE DELAYS to Licences
For your information, Police’s website has been updated with the following information regarding applying for licence renewals in 2022:
With more uncertainty and likely impacts due to COVID-19 Omicron in the community, all holders with licences due to expire at any time in 2022 are advised to apply for a licence renewal now.
Applying for a new licence now will allow Police to plan ahead and effectively resource processing timeframes to help counter any Omicron impacts, including physical movement restrictions, sickness, or isolation requirements effecting both Police staff and licence holders.
Police continues to have longer processing times for firearms licence applications. Renewal applications are currently being prioritised, then first time applications when the licence is for work purposes, followed by first time applications.
Licence holders are reminded if you intend on participating in your sport, hunting or food gathering activities that involve firearms you need to ensure your licence is current.
If at any point during the application renewal process your existing licence expires before you have received your new licence, you will not be able to lawfully possess or use your firearms and ammunition (unless you are under the immediate supervision of a valid firearms licence holder).
During this time, you should give your firearms and ammunition to a current firearms licence holder to store appropriately on your behalf, until your firearms licence renewal application is approved.
Applying for your renewal now will improve the likelihood that your licence will be processed on time.
The link to Police’s website is here: https://www.police.govt.nz/advice-se...ws-and-updates
Please share this information with your networks.
My license expires next year, should probably renew now.
Thanks for the Advice @yeah_na_missed
Yes I submitted by paper based application and later re-submitted the digital form thru email. I am just pending at the "assign vetting officer to my non related referee" stage since Dec 202. I just wrote/called them not long ago. Probably I will write another email/call again in the next coming month.
It is coming to 20 months wait time soon. Never had such a long wait time in any application before and it seems like there are no leadership to maintain the quality this public services.
On the other hand, it gave me more time to prepare the saving for the equipment when the license is available.
Deterrence through deliberate delay. If I can get a new drivers licence through the post in less than a week then the unreasonable delays being experienced with FAL renewal and issue may only be explained by the words preceding this sentence.
Fair one @Rushy... can't really argue with that.
@hakka_ranger... my delay led to me spending all my hard earned cash of equipment, smashing the savings for the main event! Not helped by some of the great deals on (non-essential) stuff on here!