Thread: Firearm License unrelated referee

So there appears to be no way around the bureaucracy.
Suggested steps:
- Join NZDA (attend HUNTS Course) and/or local (indoor/outdoor) rifle club to build relationships and credibility
- Hunt with a mate or club mate, under supervision of a licensed firearms owner
- Get a Licenced Firearms owner to buy and store your rifle.
- Network with NZ based SAFA community and find that person who grew up in your village, and knew your parents!
EASY!

Originally Posted by Hugh Shields

So there appears to be no way around the bureaucracy.
Suggested steps:
- Join NZDA (attend HUNTS Course) and/or local (indoor/outdoor) rifle club to build relationships and credibility
- Hunt with a mate or club mate, under supervision of a licensed firearms owner
- Get a Licenced Firearms owner to buy and store your rifle.
- Network with NZ based SAFA community and find that person who grew up in your village, and knew your parents!
EASY!

Not so sure about that one...I know some people who would happily vouch for but their kids....Not so much....and if the friends of parents dont know him well enough for him to approach them already or even know he is here, then I would be reluctant to accept their endorsment if I was in the vetting officers place.

I certainly agree that his first port of call shoul dbe to dicuss this with the AO first and find out what he can actually do to help his case.

Well there is hope. He thought the referee needed to be a NZ resident or citizen however it only says “must be living in New Zealand”. He has one mate who has been here for few years under a work visa. Hopefully it will work

Originally Posted by tibo

Well there is hope. He thought the referee needed to be a NZ resident or citizen however it only says “must be living in New Zealand”. He has one mate who has been here for few years under a work visa. Hopefully it will work

Hope your mate got it sorted Tibo.

I know a guy once, who asked me to be his FAL referee but I didn't know him that well and didn't want to associate with his fal,
it was an awkward moment to decline.

Originally Posted by Snap 4T

Hope your mate got it sorted Tibo.

I know a guy once, who asked me to be his FAL referee but I didn't know him that well and didn't want to associate with his fal,
it was an awkward moment to decline.

Shit that's better than getting rung up by the vetting person without any warning and getting asked if you're happy to be a reference!!! THAT was awkward...

Originally Posted by tibo

Well there is hope. He thought the referee needed to be a NZ resident or citizen however it only says “must be living in New Zealand”. He has one mate who has been here for few years under a work visa. Hopefully it will work

I could be wrong and suspect that what they are after is someone who has known them for long enough to actually be a referee, and the being here is so they can actually interview them for the reference.....I was wondering if the referee has to have been here that long, or whther they simply have to have known the applicant for that long and simply be here so they can be interviewed...

For sure he needs to contact the FSA, or whatever division of police they call themselves now.
A couple of things to remember: -
(1) we all know of the consequences of police either not, or being unable to, vet a referee hence their extreme reluctance to be "caught out" again,
(2) the very recent debacle of police insisting that a recently returned service person, who was on active duty at the behest of the NZ Govt., being required to seek and obtain a reference from the regime of the country in which he was stationed; in this case Afghanistan and the Taliban,
and (3) it is, I believe, normal practice to be required to provide a police clearance from the country he recently departed (Sth. Africa) at his own cost. Police aren't interested in doing that part of the "clearance" procedure - it's down to the individual.

He was a "pest controller" in S.A.
I don't know whether or not they have a licencing regime, but if he had a S.A. licence, a clearance shouldn't be too difficult to obtain.
To use a colloquialism, police are definately "gun shy" nowadays, which doesn't and wont help his cause.

Thanks everyone he is going to call to get an email to explain his case.

Maybe an online gaming dude he's never physically met?

Yep - theres been a few occasions where I have declined to be a referee for someone.

Telling them you dont think they are a suitable person for a firearms license doesnt win you a friend but it might save a life

When my wife renewed TTP also required her non related referee had also observed her using a firearm in the last 12 months.

Wasn't a problem but I thought that was a strange requirement

I have to wonder if the requirement for a referee to be living in NZ is to bring them under NZ law. Providing a crook or baseless reference has, or should have, legal consequences. Not always the case but there ya go. At least if the referee is currently living in NZ the vetter has the opportunity to eyeball them face to face and make some assessment of sincerity..

the thing is how do you or they prove you have/haven't known the person for x amount of years....

Originally Posted by blip

the thing is how do you or they prove you have/haven't known the person for x amount of years....

I have text message history going back 12 years, so I can easily prove that I have known some people for at least that long. I have never heard of a vettor asking, but if they did ask a referee to show them their first text message from the applicant, it would quickly shine a light on things one way or another.

my boss asked me to be a referee so he could try and get a fal i said straight no fuking way