Firearms Safety Authority Responds to Colfo on Speech and the Fit and Proper Test
- COLFO
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
31 August 2026
Today the Firearms Safety Authority replied to questions COLFO put to the Minister of Police on 17 August.
We asked two things.
First: what checks and balances are in place inside the Firearms Safety Authority and Police to ensure licensed firearm owners are not unfairly or selectively targeted on the basis of speech that has not met the criminal threshold for prosecution.
Second: what is the practical line between speech that may justify administrative action against a firearms licence, and speech that must be dealt with through the criminal justice system, and how that line was applied in the recent case involving Brian Tamaki.
COLFO’s concern is not any individual. We do not support or endorse the statements that brought that case into public view. The issue is the structure of the law: residual, subjective power, including where lawful speech is treated as the trigger, and the risk that creates for every licensed owner.
What they said
The reply is from Mike McIlraith, Director – Communities and Corporate at the Firearms Safety Authority. Because the questions were treated as operational, they were referred from the Minister to the Authority. The Authority is a business unit of New Zealand Police.
