Thread: PSA: Unnecessary Bureaucracy with Import Permits

Before the laws all went Pete Tong. I sold my rifles back to my Dad and brother in NZ. They signed over on the UK FAL. Police here never even raised an eyebrow at it.

Just to extend a bit on that subject . Why having to apply for an import permit when you go abroad for hunting or shooting with your guns and you re enter with your own guns on the way back is the biggest useless bureaucracy procedure ever . I don’t know if any other country doing it like that . And with the register now in place that should be waved out all together for those that have registered.

Originally Posted by Friwi

Just to extend a bit on that subject . Why having to apply for an import permit when you go abroad for hunting or shooting with your guns and you re enter with your own guns on the way back is the biggest useless bureaucracy procedure ever . I don’t know if any other country doing it like that . And with the register now in place that should be waved out all together for those that have registered.

Every country with a registry you have to sign them out and in again that I know of.

Otherwise the government looses control over them,that's what this is really all about.

I took a gun back to NZ in the old days,decided I would leave it there. Told the Norwegian police who freaked out and it took two years to get it off my licence because they couldn't decide what proof they needed to show it was in NZ.

Ridiculous really for a lump of metal, plastic and wood. The paperwork cost over the lifespan of the item far outstrips the $ value in the item itself...

Originally Posted by Friwi

Just to extend a bit on that subject . Why having to apply for an import permit when you go abroad for hunting or shooting with your guns and you re enter with your own guns on the way back is the biggest useless bureaucracy procedure ever . I don’t know if any other country doing it like that . And with the register now in place that should be waved out all together for those that have registered.

In one sense it gives you some protection. If you exit NZ witha firearm, then later return with that firearm there is no way of knowing whether you didn't just obtain / buy that firearm while overseas before bringing it back to NZ. Of course on arrival here you would rightly say it's yours and you temporarily took it overseas and are now bringing it back. But if NZ Customs did't find that believable they could well calculate a value and present you with an invoice for GST. The Import Permit proves that the firearm you re enter NZ with is the same firearm you departed with.
There are other countries that operate similar systems for similar reasons.

Originally Posted by No.3

Ridiculous really for a lump of metal, plastic and wood. The paperwork cost over the lifespan of the item far outstrips the $ value in the item itself...

Oh, dear me.
When will people realise that, in the eyes of police and politicians (well, some of them) that this has got nothing to do with the amount of bureaucracy or its incipient paperwork.
It's about CONTROL.

Originally Posted by no1_49er

Oh, dear me.
When will people realise that, in the eyes of police and politicians (well, some of them) that this has got nothing to do with the amount of bureaucracy or its incipient paperwork.
It's about CONTROL.

It isn't really - you can't control anything when you can't get your own crap sorted first.