McKee NicoleNICOLE McKEE (ACT): Mālō e lelei Madam Speaker. The full firearms registry takes effect from this Saturday 24 June 2023—an absolute taxpayer-funded failure to be sure. But let's clear up some misinformation that has been broadcast around the registry.We have a registry in place for pistols restricted weapons and collector items. It's actually been there since the 1992 Arms Regulation changes. In the 1980s a permit to procure process was in force—that's where the firearm was registered and not the person. It was a paper-based system that had a 66 percent error rate so police asked for it to be scrapped.We moved then to lifetime licences which was looking at the person. In 1992 we had the Arms Regulations. That introduced the 10-year firearms licences and it also introduced endorsements. Endorsements have been in place and have been registered since this time—and they still are. Military-style semi-automatics pistols restricted weapons and collector items have been registered since 1992 and still are registered today.The current registration system is not paper-based; it's data-driven and still contains many errors within it. There are concerns around security of information and rightly so. In December 2019 the police data from their confiscation regime was left open with owners' names addresses phone numbers bank account details and hand-in information accessed. Then there was the wheelie bin that was left behind at the old police station in Vincent Street Auckland with around 4000 licensed firearm owner details inside it. Pages from that wheelie bin were found in the home of a criminal when a search was being undertaken. Many licensed firearm owners do not trust police with this information and we do have to ask: why should they? Since the start of 2022 police themselves have lost six firearms—a Bushmaster and a Glock 17 are still unrecovered. That's right: a prohibited firearm and a pistol are still unrecovered and if in civilian ownership these would have been registered already.In question time yesterday the Minister of Police made the statement that once the registry goes live It will be able to map for the first time where all firearms are in New Zealand. I believe that this is a good way to find out where the guns are and make sure they are out of the hands of those organised criminal groups who are a danger to our community." What a load of crock. Mapping for the first time—this isn't the first time; the first time failed. As for the statement "This is a good way to find out where the guns are" well the police already know where the licensed owners' guns are. They've been in our homes they've interviewed our families and they've checked and approved our security. They know exactly where we are who we are and who we live with. What the police and its Minister don't know—and won't know even with registration—is where all the illegally held guns are. We know that 95 percent of firearm charges are laid against people who are not licensed; people who would never use a register because they're not meant to be in possession of a firearm in the first place.The public are being told that licensed firearm owners are the ones that give gangs guns and there is no evidence at all of this. Police refused an Official Information Act (OIA) request by saying they don't capture data on the diversion between licensed and unlicensed people. Maybe some of that diversion came from the 29 gang members on the National Gang List that police did issue a firearms licence for.Licensing in Canada was meant to cost $2 million; it quickly blew out to $2 billion before the full registry was scrapped. They found 87 percent of firearm homicides were committed with unregistered firearms. It was scrapped due to the extreme cost and lack of effect it was having on gun crime. Justice Thorp who held an inquiry into firearms use here in New Zealand and who advocated for registration said it won't work unless there's 90 percent compliance. Police answered an OIA admitting that 46 percent of seized firearms had no serial number recorded at all.Registration will not keep our communities safer. It isn't even an ambulance at the bottom of the hill; it's a money pit that Labour are hell-bent on pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into. It doesn't achieve the objectives of the Arms Legislation Act which is to keep our community safe. Emphasis needs to be placed on the fit and proper person and ACT has a bill that will do just that. Thank you Madam Speaker."