Thread: Using the firearms register

I dont have any skin in the game....YET, as I dont have to register my firearms till 2028, have enough ammo to last till then and havent seen anything that falls into the category of "I will sell a kidney to buy this!"

But, for all those that are having problems contacting the FSA or are noticing discrepancies in what they have registered etc, I hope you are passing on this information to either Colfo or Nicole McKee or both.
Judging by the number of replies to this thread regarding the functionality of the current system it seems to me it is not yet 'Fit for purpose'. And while its nice to vent our frustrations within our community, unless those problems are forwarded to those who can help solve them, or more importantly, have the power to change things, we are just shouting into the wind.

It would be nice to think that the powers that be, are reading this thread with interest and with the ultimate purpose of solving problems, but I dont have enough faith in their genuine desire or ability to rectify things to a great extent.

And yes, I am old and cynical......

Originally Posted by Allgood

And yes, I am old and cynical......

Being old is the result of orbits around the sun but being cynical only comes from several encounters with drop kicks, drongos, dopshits, numpties and dickheads throughout the journey.

Originally Posted by Rushy

Being old is the result of orbits around the sun but being cynical only comes from several encounters with drop kicks, drongos, dopshits, numpties and dickheads throughout the journey.

Yep. 20yrs in uniform gave me enough encounters to last for the rest of my life...........and then some...

Since there is no sun for half the day I reckon you are only half as old then

Originally Posted by Rushy

Being old is the result of orbits around the sun but being cynical only comes from several encounters with drop kicks, drongos, dopshits, numpties and dickheads throughout the journey.

32 minutes today to do a transfer.

Originally Posted by stug

32 minutes today to do a transfer.

I must have got lucky, mine was 20mins

Four attempts over week to transfer a firearm. finally got through to someone today. Just a bit over 2 hours in total spent listening to that inane on hold music!

Righty so this is the results of my latest FSA Phone call - I have a few odd balls that aren't on the web portal so I do EVERYTHING over the phone and record the phone calls , as well as running my own spreadsheet to track firearms , serials , dates of transfers , who they went to , when I called the FSA.

Here's the rundown :

45 Minutes Waiting for someone to answer the phone to personally register three firearms from a dealer.

1.5 Hours Doing the transfers of machineguns and magazines to new owners and trying to explain that the Submachinegun In Question is in fact not a pistol , that the AKM is not a bolt action , and that "Soviet" is not a Manufacturer - and that "Radom" is not available in their system so she just puts it in as "Soviet"

1 Hour of "They don't exist in the system , Can you please confirm the serial numbers as we have XXXXXX In the system for that model , but I think it's been entered incorrectly" , and with the Operator failing to understand that Cyrillic is a Language that does not share english characters.

30 Minutes of "Oh Woopsie I've duplicated them accidentally please hold the line"

1 Minute of "So where do you shoot these restricted weapons anyway"

All in One Phone call.


I hate to be critical but I swear they've found people that are so far from familiar with current legislation , almost on purpose.

They want to beat you over the head with the information you put in and you tick the box to declare it's correct when it's so clearly not.

At this point , I'll do my best to comply but it's really hard when the person on the other end of the phone has almost zero contextual knowledge about what you're telling them.

This was on a Tuesday at 11am - Supposedly their "Not so busy" Period.

Originally Posted by Masperjay

Righty so this is the results of my latest FSA Phone call - I have a few odd balls that aren't on the web portal so I do EVERYTHING over the phone and record the phone calls , as well as running my own spreadsheet to track firearms , serials , dates of transfers , who they went to , when I called the FSA.

Here's the rundown :

45 Minutes Waiting for someone to answer the phone to personally register three firearms from a dealer.

1.5 Hours Doing the transfers of machineguns and magazines to new owners and trying to explain that the Submachinegun In Question is in fact not a pistol , that the AKM is not a bolt action , and that "Soviet" is not a Manufacturer - and that "Radom" is not available in their system so she just puts it in as "Soviet"

1 Hour of "They don't exist in the system , Can you please confirm the serial numbers as we have XXXXXX In the system for that model , but I think it's been entered incorrectly" , and with the Operator failing to understand that Cyrillic is a Language that does not share english characters.

30 Minutes of "Oh Woopsie I've duplicated them accidentally please hold the line"

1 Minute of "So where do you shoot these restricted weapons anyway"

All in One Phone call.


I hate to be critical but I swear they've found people that are so far from familiar with current legislation , almost on purpose.

They want to beat you over the head with the information you put in and you tick the box to declare it's correct when it's so clearly not.

At this point , I'll do my best to comply but it's really hard when the person on the other end of the phone has almost zero contextual knowledge about what you're telling them.

Side note of this - How do they expect busy people , normal people , to take this time out of their daily working lives to put up with this?

Imagine if you were living remotely - "Yeah nah mate just go stand up on that hill for three hours and wait till someone picks up the phone"

Very poorly implemented imo , Especially for people with uncommon firearms.

Originally Posted by stug

32 minutes today to do a transfer.

I'm on my 2nd attempt for the week. First attempt I was on hold for 9 minutes until I got another phone call and had to hang up.


It takes 49 seconds of preamble message before you can even select the option for a transfer...

Yep. The needless preamble is annoying.

But to be fair, last week I probably waited for 5 minutes only, and it was the middle of the day.

I did once get one guy who had a firearms license himself, and I observed that he probably kept that to himself at work, and he chuckled a bit.

50:11 total


who has time for this?

An hour so far. Started 08;30, cut off once, recall and still I wait. Turns out .25-303 and Gun City are unfathomable, so online useless.

Originally Posted by gimp

50:11 total


who has time for this?

I presented my verification form to the AO the other day and commented on the service the register is giving to firearm owners. He said it was a lack of funds causing the problem, told if they didn’t improve, there’s likely to be a shite load of unregistered firearms in New Zealand and owners, because it’s so difficult and complex to deal with. He agreed, but said an AO has no say in the matter

Originally Posted by Maca49

He said it was a lack of funds causing the problem

They spent over $10M standing this thing up and close to $9M a year to run it and want us to believe they can't afford to make a system that allows you to transfer ownership online? Sack the lot of them for incompetence.