Police are reminding gun owners to follow the right procedure ahead of the latest buy-back which gets underway tomorrow.
A gun buy-back in Tairei last year. Photo: RNZ / Tim Brown
The director of the Amnesty and Buy-back programme, Inspector Richard Wilson, said this buy-back focuses on small semi-automatic pistols, centre fire pump action firearms and certain AR15 platforms.
"This is important because there's a bunch of newly prohibited firearms that have been made as part of the new legislation and police are wanting to be able to compensate people fairly for those items."
People are being asked to make an appointment with their regional collection team for their firearms to be assessed with police saying the price will be advised at that time.
Police say the firearms and related items should be transported securely, and owners should take photo identification and bank documents.
The government banned military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles in 2019 following the Christchurch terror attacks. By June the following year, a second set of gun law reforms was passed in Parliament.
The previous buyback scheme saw more than 56,000 weapons removed from circulation and $102 million paid out to gun owners.
Earlier this month, Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming said that unlike the last programme, police would not be holding any large collection events this time because new restrictions mainly affected smaller firearms.
The latest buy-back compensation will take place from 1 February until 1 May.
There is more information about the buyback on the police website for anyone who may be unsure whether the items they possess are prohibited.
"We will also take in any arms items people would like to hand in under amnesty. For example, this could be a firearm someone has inherited when a family member passed away," police said in a statement.
