Thread: Firearms Licence Question

Hi there,

Think it's finally time to get my gun licence after shooting with my mate for a number of years. What he can't remember is assuming you pass everything and your good to go, are you able to go any purchase firearms/ammunition straight away (I.e the officer issues you a temporary licence) or do you have to wait until it arrives in the post?

Cheers

In the past, at work when people have been waiting on a new, or renewed licence to turn up, or have left it at home and live out of town, we have called the police station to get someone to confirm over the phone that the person has been issued a licence. Maybe different arms officers have different takes on it, but it wasn't a problem last time I had to do it, the cop on the phone just made a note of what was being bought at which shop, though that was just ammo. Not sure about a temporary licence but if you've been told you will be issued a regular one then I don't see why you couldn't get a mail order form to buy something in the meantime.

Depends on your local Arms Officer - I know while waiting for mine, I could get a couple things.
My local H&F rang the AO and he gave them my license number and OK'd it.

Don't expect anything, but ask.

Cheers guys, so you reckon if I sat the test on the 2nd, I could have everything ticked off by Xmas?

Originally Posted by Shooter173

Cheers guys, so you reckon if I sat the test on the 2nd, I could have everything ticked off by Xmas?

How long is a piece of string comes to mind... After the test it was nearly three months before I had the interview and then longer still before my licence actually turned up. Its not gonna be any faster by doing nothing though so get into it and good luck.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

How long is a piece of string comes to mind... After the test it was nearly three months before I had the interview and then longer still before my licence actually turned up. Its not gonna be any faster by doing nothing though so get into it and good luck.

I think I had everything done and dusted within a couple of weeks of submitting my form. Later the night I did the paperwork I had a phone call to say that someone had pulled out of the course for the following night and that I could take the spot. The following day the AO said he was in a hurry and that I could get the interviews and inspections done later that week. About a week later I had my piece of plastic. Not the norm though.

Originally Posted by Shooter173

Cheers guys, so you reckon if I sat the test on the 2nd, I could have everything ticked off by Xmas?

You're dependent on the availability of the AO and your referees. If your referees aren't available when the AO is, that will slow down the process, so if you're in a desperate rush to get your FAL pronto, make sure you've get them organised too. Plus the AO will want onsite inspection of your security, again, at a time that suits them - they'll generally do multiple people on the same day in the same area.

Where do you live ?

Talk to your AO about your intentions. A face to face at the station has a lot more credibility than a random caller they've never previously met

my license was delivered (the old paper type) in a week. it sure helped that one of my character witnesses was a senior cop. then again a workmate waited near on 2 months for his.

get HDPA to order it for you.

Of late it's taken around 2-3 weeks for the licence to arrive after the vetting interviews. However, I was informed today that because of earthquake damage to the building in Molesworth Street, Wellington there may be some delays. Hopefully not too long.

The staff there try to do their best to get the licences printed and sent as quickly as possible.

I recently renewed my firearms license. I was pretty proactive with all the paperwork and had my interview with the arms officer 50 days before my license was due to expire, thinking that would be plenty of time to get things sorted. Well, 118 days after the interview and 68 days after my license had expired, my new license finally arrived at an address where I hadn't lived for 15 years! And this was after doing my best to contact the arms office several times to see where it was (they flat out didnt reply to voicemail or email, and were very difficult to get hold of by phone).

I'm sure most renewals go smoothly, but be prepared for the odd bit of blatant incompetence...