Armed police guarding a cordon in Onehunga after a man was shot dead in August. Photo / Alex Burton
Armed police guarding a cordon in Onehunga after a man was shot dead in August. Photo / Alex Burton
Police data reveals officers encountered nearly 17,000 firearms in under six years, including banned MSSAs - military-style semi-automatic weapons.
Auckland accounts for over a quarter of firearms found and nearly half of related injuries and deaths.
The data highlights concerns about gang-linked gun crime, and could fuel calls for routine arming of police.
New Zealand is awash with guns, with new data revealing the danger facing frontline police officers who are routinely confronted by an array of lethal firearms while serving their communities.
Data from the police Gun Safe programme, released under the Official Information Act, shows officers have encountered nearly 17,000 firearms while on duty in less than six years.
That means cops carrying out routine police work are finding nearly 10 guns every day across the country - some of them high-powered military-style semi-automatic (MSSA) assault weapons banned since the Christchurch terror attacks in which 51 Muslim worshippers were murdered.
The chilling arsenal includes 5775 rifles, 3421 shotguns, 2588 airguns, 1800 pistols, 1616 unknown or “other”, 942 imitation firearms, 464 prohibited firearms (including MSSAs), 206 restricted weapons and 72 starter pistols.
It’s believed that many of the seized weapons are linked to gangs, illicit drugs and organised crime, as more Australian 501 deportees arrive in New Zealand with links to violent overseas gangs like the Comancheros and a propensity to use firearms against rival criminal organisations.
Firearms-linked homicide investigations are now commonplace.
A man died on December 5 after presenting at a South Auckland medical centre with gunshot injuries. He was rushed to Middlemore Hospital but could not be saved.
Another man was shot dead in Lower Hutt on December 10. He was found with critical injuries in a Naenae street. Bystanders performed CPR but he died from his injuries.
Memories of Auckland Constable Matthew Hunt being gunned down in West Auckland in 2020 are still fresh for the police force. The new gun figures are likely to fuel calls for the routine arming of police.
Counties Manukau police district and the wider Auckland region are a hotspot for firearms and associated gun violence.
The three Auckland police districts account for more than a quarter of all firearms discovered nationwide by police since the Gun Safe programme was set up in December 2018 to record the number of guns found on the streets.
Auckland also accounts for nearly half of the nation’s firearms-related injuries and deaths recorded in the database.
In response to growing concern about the number of firearms in circulation, police began recording their encounters with guns six years ago on the Gun Safe register.
It includes events where police locate and seize illegally held firearms, seize legally held firearms because of safety concerns around mental health or family harm, and “events involving the presentation or discharge of firearms at members of public or police”.
However, police say the database was “shut down” in April last year. It has been replaced with the Firearms Events Report, which provides similar data and can now be accessed by officers on their phones.
South Auckland councillor and former police officer Alf Filipaina said the firearms statistics were “shocking to read”. Photo / Jed Bradley
South Auckland councillor and former police officer Alf Filipaina said the statistics were “shocking to read”.
They were likely to reflect the prevalence of gangs across “south side” and elsewhere in New Zealand.
And while the number of weapons in circulation was deeply concerning, Filipaina took heart that police intelligence was rooting out the weapons and communities were standing up and reporting the whereabouts of illicit firearms to law enforcement.
“It’s the communities saying, ‘We are sick and tired of this’. I have no doubt the community has played a part.
“May that continue because the sooner we get those firearms off the street the safer our communities will be.
“We should never get used to hearing that another firearm has been found, or someone has been seriously injured or killed by a firearm. That should never become the norm.”
The Police Association says New Zealand has a major problem with gun violence.
The Gun Safe figures show that nationally police attended nearly 380 callouts where a firearm was discharged and at least one person was injured - 172 of them across Auckland, with 89 alone in Counties Manukau.
Seventy-five events nationwide resulted in at least one death - 33 of them in Auckland, including 16 in Counties Manukau.
However, police caution that the actual number of people injured or killed will be significantly higher, because the data does not capture every individual who has been shot.
For instance, the figures don’t include the March 15 mosque attack victims because an officer was not present when the shootings occurred, though the event is recorded elsewhere in the Gun Safe register.
A man was shot dead in Naenae, Lower Hutt, on December 10, sparking a large-scale emergency response. Photo / Supplied
Police Association president Chris Cahill said the data was stark evidence of the scale of the problem.
“Looking at the numbers in their entirety really puts it in perspective. We’ve got a major problem with firearms crime in New Zealand.”
Cahill said the risk of encountering an armed offender was such that many police officers now wore ballistic body armour full-time while on duty.
“If you’re stopping a car with gang members, there’s a high chance there’s a firearm in it, so they treat that with the utmost caution and risk.”
Cahill said the South Auckland figures were worrying. The victims of gun crime ran wider than just those who were shot.
The spate of drive-by shootings were scary for communities, with offenders often targeting innocent families in the wrong house.
“It’s the communities that have to live in fear. If you’re in a neighbourhood where there’s been a shooting, do you think you feel safe? You clearly don’t.”
He said the firearms registry was an important tool to track the number of firearms in circulation and help pinpoint when “straw buyers” were using legitimate firearms licences to purchase guns that were then on-sold to criminals.
The association was lobbying strongly against potential moves to water down the registry and ease restrictions on MSSAs, which were currently under consideration by Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee.
“We’re obviously concerned given the Associate Minister’s views on firearms... Once you start opening [access to MSSAs] up to groups of sports shooters, it leaves the door open to abuse.”
Lane Nichols is Deputy Head of News and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
