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Arms Bill

Further offences and firearms prohibition orders - Offences relating to manufacturing and assembling arms items

267: Possessing digital blueprint to illegally manufacture arms item

You could also call this:

"Making a gun or arms item illegally using a digital plan can be a serious crime"

Illustration for Arms Bill

If you have a digital plan to make a gun or other arms item illegally, you could go to prison for up to 10 years. This can happen if you have the plan and the things you need to make the item, like a 3-D printer. You might have materials like polymers or resins that can be used to make the arms item. If you have a special licence to make arms items for a business, this rule does not apply to you. You also might not break this rule if you have a firearms licence and are making the item for yourself, and you are allowed to have the item. You must be making it for personal use and be lawfully entitled to possess the item. You are considered to have a digital plan if it is on your computer or another device, or if you can access it from somewhere else. A digital plan can be a picture or electronic code that shows how to make the arms item. It can be used with a 3-D printer or other machinery to make the item.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1534013.

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266: Manufacturing arms items without authority, or

"Making guns or gun parts without permission is against the law"

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Part 6Further offences and firearms prohibition orders
Offences relating to manufacturing and assembling arms items

267Possessing digital blueprint to illegally manufacture arms item

  1. A person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 10 years if the person possesses a digital blueprint relating to the manufacture of an arms item in circumstances that indicate an intention to manufacture the arms item (for example, the person has polymers, filaments, resins, or other materials that enable the manufacture of the arms item, and has access to a 3-D printer or other machinery or equipment capable of manufacturing the item).

  2. However, subsection (1) does not apply to a person who—

  3. holds a business licence that authorises the manufacture of the arms item; or
    1. holds a firearms licence and—
      1. is manufacturing the arms item for personal use; and
        1. is lawfully entitled to possess the arms item.

        2. For the purposes of subsection (1), a person possesses a digital blueprint if the person—

        3. possesses a computer or other data storage device on which the digital blueprint is held, stored, or recorded; or
          1. controls or accesses the digital blueprint by means of a remote computer or web portal (even if the remote computer or web portal is in the control of another person or is outside New Zealand).

            1. In this section, digital blueprint, in relation to an arms item, includes—

            2. any type of digital, electronic, or photographic reproduction of a technical drawing relating to the arms item design:
              1. any electronic coding that enables the manufacture of the arms item.