Inevitably, it put the coalition in the spotlight Governmenthis proposed changes to the Gun Act and how changes to licensing procedures and regulations could affect public safety.

Gun control is a complex and controversial issue – but New Zealand can learn from the experience of other countries. It may surprise many, but one such country is the United States, where gun rights and restrictions are permanently — and often tragically — political.

Of course, there is ffundamental differences between the USA and New Zealand when it comes to the regulation of firearms. For Americans, gun ownership is a right. For New Zealanders, it’s a privilege. This has led to very different approaches to regulation, with the US arguably more liberal – for which they are paying a heavy price.

But it would be wrong to assume that New Zealand has nothing to learn from the US. Paradoxically, a more liberal approach to firearm ownership may result in stricter specific laws and regulations.

There are four areas where New Zealand could learn from this as the government seeks to rewrite the Gun Act.

Some crimes must not be forgotten

The Americans argue that anyone convicted of a felony punishable by more than a year in prison (a “felony”) loses their right to own a firearm.

Unless this right is restored, usually by petition or pardon (agreeing that the person is no longer a risk), there is a strong presumption that this is a permanent ban. Additional state bans ensure that this law is properly enforced by keeping convicted felons away from firearms.

(Even Donald Trump came down against this law because of his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records during the 2016 presidential election.)

In New Zealand, the list of legal and other reasons to refuse a firearms license is growing. But such disqualifications usually extend only 10 years from the date of application and are not indefinite.

Take “straw buying” seriously.

A “straw purchase” is when someone who has the legal right to buy or own a firearm offers a gun to someone prohibited by law from owning one.

A 2023 federal report showed that 54 percent of guns recovered by US police at crime scenes in 2021 were purchased in the previous three years. This suggested that straw buying or illegal trafficking was a significant problem.

Legal owners illegally supplying firearms to those who shouldn’t have them (including gang members) is also a problem in New Zealand.

Recently, in a remarkable piece of policing, New Zealand officers went through three years of handwritten records of more than 360,000 individual gun sales in 390 stores. This appears to have set the scene for the arrest of nearly 40 people, including two former employees of the gun store, on charges of illegal gun sales.

In the US, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 made gun trafficking and straw buying federal crimes for the first time. Until then only light penalties were applied. But the new law allows prison terms of up to 15 years – or up to 25 years if the firearm was used in more serious crimes such as terrorism or drug trafficking.

By contrast, in New Zealand, selling or supplying restricted firearms to unauthorized persons is punishable by up to three years in prison. Illegally selling banned firearms or magazines (such as the type used in the Christchurch terror attack) carries a sentence of up to five years. The prison sentence for supplying someone who is the subject of a firearms prohibition order can now be up to seven years.

These changes, made in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, are at least an improvement. In 2018, the man who supplied Quinn Patterson with the military-style weapons he used to kill two people received just 12 months of house arrest.

Minimal amounts of metal in all firearms

One particularly clever American law – renewed four times since it was first signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1988 – is the Undetectable Firearms Act. This makes it illegal to manufacture, import, sell, possess, transfer or receive any firearm that cannot be detected by security systems.

Each gun must contain enough metal to set off X-ray machines and metal detectors. Also prohibited are any firearms with major components that do not produce an accurate image in standard airport imaging technology.

While this alone will not prevent the problem of unauthorized 3D printing of firearms, it is a step in the right direction for improving security in places like courthouses and airports. New Zealand has no similar law.

Mandatory reporting of injuries caused by firearms

While firearm homicides are well recorded and shared with police, there are often significant data gaps because reporting of firearm injuries is optional.

Health professionals in New Zealand are only required to report an injury if they believe someone has a medical condition that should prevent them from holding a firearms licence.

But mandatory reporting of gunshot wounds by medical professionals is common in a number of comparable countries. In the US, there are reporting requirements in 48 out of 50 states.

Mandatory reporting of all firearm injuries helps authorities track the extent and nature of illegal firearms use. It can also require police visits and checks on the gun owner to ensure it is still “fit and proper” since the last license renewal.

Despite these benefits – and the fact that mandatory reporting of gunshot injuries by health professionals was recommended by the royal commission into the Christchurch terror attack – the government has refused to take the issue further.

The Gun Act Review is a unique opportunity to make New Zealand safer. The first step is to look at what other countries can teach us. And while it may seem counterintuitive, and despite all the faults in its very liberal system, the US still has some ideas we should consider adopting.