2026 Election – Political Party Responses on Firearms Policy
Updated: 31 minutes ago
Published 10 August 2026
Today the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO) invited all registered political parties to respond to a set of clear policy questions ahead of the General Election.
Every party received the same briefing document and the same invitation.
You can read the full briefing here:
Parties were also offered the opportunity to appear on a live Digital Town Hall (held online at 7 pm on a day that suited them) to discuss firearms policy and answer moderated questions from the audience.
This page records the responses we received. All answers are published exactly as submitted, without editing. Where a party has not responded by the deadline, this is clearly marked.
Full Party Responses
These are listed in the order presented by Election.nz. Reference Document here.
The Party Response will be linked below as they are sent to COLFO. 5:00 pm, Friday 4 September 2026 was provided to them as the cut-off. After which point any parties that have not made a response will be updated to "No response received by deadline".
Party Responses:
ACT New Zealand Digital Town Hall Appearance September 21st 2026. Watch Here.
Animal Justice Party Aotearoa New Zealand - Read Here
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party - Read Here
Conservative Party NZ - Read Here
New Zealand First Party - Read Here
New Zealand Labour Party - Read Here (Their answers are at the end of the document)
NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party - Read Here
Te Pāti Māori - No response received by deadline 4 September.
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand Digital Town Hall Appearance September 24th. Watch Here.
The New Zealand National Party Digital Town Hall Appearance: 28th of October at 7pm
Opportunity Party - "As a party outside of Parliament, we cannot access the substantial taxpayer-funded support MPs use for research and to develop policies. Opportunity relies solely on no-strings-attached donations and a team of volunteers, so we don’t yet have a detailed policy on every issue. I will forward your invitation to our leadership team to respond." - No response received by deadline 4 September.
Vision New Zealand - No response received by deadline 4 September.
Women's Rights Party - Responded that they have no specific firearm policy.
Quick Comparison Table
This is provided for an easy comparison between parties. We suggest that you also read their full submission above to get a more complete picture of their policy positions.
Legend ✓ = Aligns with sector-preferred direction ✗ = Maintains current restrictive approach or opposes sector-preferred direction – = Unclear / Did not answer / Declined to respond
Question | National | Labour | ACT | NZ First | Greens | TPM | Conservative | |
Evidence-based law vs blanket restrictions | – | ✓ | ✓ | – | ✓ | |||
Standards for removing a FAL | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | |||
Return to pre-2019 register model (non-A-cat only) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | |||
More objective “fit and proper” test | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | |||
Limited sporting/hunting semi-automatics exemption | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Partial ✓ | |||
Formal partnership with COLFO & sector | ✗ | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | |||
Focus enforcement on criminals, not licensed owners | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Protect clubs & ranges from local government barriers | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | |||
Greater independence of the regulator from Police | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | |||
Funding for sector-led programmes including mental health | – | – | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
The usefulness of this article lies in the fact that it consolidates various responses from political parties concerning firearms policy into one document. The great benefit of this work is its well-structured format. Using a sentence counter while reviewing detailed policy responses can also help keep summaries concise and readable. This is a helpful resource for understanding the published positions.