Arms Act 1983

Miscellaneous provisions - Surrender or delivery of firearms, etc

60: Improvement notices

You could also call this:

"What to do if you're not following the firearms rules"

If a police officer thinks you are not following the Arms Act 1983 or the conditions of your firearms licence, they can give you an improvement notice. The notice will tell you what you are doing wrong and what you need to do to fix it. It will also tell you when you need to fix the problem by. The police officer will send the notice to you in writing, either by post or electronically. They can give you more time to fix the problem if they want to. You must fix the problem by the date on the notice, or by the new date if the police officer gives you more time. If you do not fix the problem, the police officer can suspend or take away your licence, see sections 60A and 60B for more information.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS440460.

This page was last updated on 27 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Police and safety

59B: Voluntary delivery to Police of firearms, etc, or

"Handing in firearms or ammo to Police if you're not allowed to have them"

60A: Temporary suspension of licence pending possible revocation, or

"Police can temporarily take away your gun licence if they think you're not suitable to have a firearm."

Part 9Miscellaneous provisions
Surrender or delivery of firearms, etc

60Improvement notices

This section applies if a member of the Police reasonably believes that a person with a firearms or dealer’s licence or an ammunition seller is failing, has failed, or is likely to fail to comply with—
1 or more applicable provisions of this Act or regulations made under this Act; or
any conditions on a licence, an endorsement, or a permit.

The member of the Police may issue an improvement notice that—
states the applicable provision or provisions, or condition or conditions, that the member of the Police reasonably believes the person is failing, has failed, or is likely to fail to comply with; and
requires the person to remedy the failure or prevent a failure from occurring; and
states the date by which the person is required to remedy the failure or prevent a failure from occurring.

An improvement notice must be in writing and be sent to the person by post or electronic means to their last known address.
The member of the Police may extend the time within which the person is required to remedy the failure or prevent a failure from occurring.
A person issued with an improvement notice must comply with the notice within the time specified in the notice (or within any extended time allowed by the member of the Police). See sections 60A and 60B for possible suspension and revocation of a licence if a person fails to comply with an improvement notice.

Notes

Section 60: inserted, on 24 December 2020, by section 89 of the Arms Legislation Act 2020 (2020 No 23).