The Criminal Use of Firearms in New Zealand

Abstract

Early In 1997 a survey was conducted on 51 New Zealand prison inmates who had been convicted of illegal possession of a firearm, aggravated robbery with a firearm and murder with a firearm. Respondents were asked questions relating to their acquisition and usage of illegal firearms in order to obtain information about patterns of firearms owner-ship within the criminal community. Many of the results were similar to an American study which took place in the mid-1980s but the New Zealanders differed from the Americans in being armed less frequently and in being more restricted in their access to handguns. Among the New Zealanders the most common, popular, cheap and easily acquired weapon was the shotgun. Shotguns were used in more than half the crimes for which the respondents had been imprisoned and in seventy percent of cases the weapon had a sawn off butt or barrel. The next most common weapons used were pistols and rifles. Usage of military semi-automatics was rare. This research confirms that there is a large pool of illegally-held firearms in New Zealand and that firearms of almost any type can be obtained relatively easily from within the criminal community.