Hello,
Welcome to the forum. I'm thinking seriuosly of relocating to New Zealand myself. I LOVE New Zealand!! I guess my user name is wishful thinking, though I am a citizen of the country. The only thing that worries me is the hassle to importing my guns into the country, or selling mine here (some of which won't be allowed in NZ at all) and rebuilding a collection once I'm there.
Are you a native Kiwi or a transplant?
Native, the firearms laws can be a bit tiresome but a lot better than our near neighbours in Oz. My brother in law is living in Darwin and just applied for a firearms licence which involved lots of hoops and is now in a 3 month cool down period, the kicker is that all this is for an air rifle!
I'm required to belong to a pistol club and shoot 12 times a year and have an approved safe for my pistol (B) licence. Pistols must have a minimum 4" barrel and can only be fired on certified pistol ranges, of which there are plenty enough.
An A licence is for long guns and doesn't require much effort, a simple multi-choice safety test, a basic background check, interview with a nominated referee (or 2, I don't quite remember) and a check on your security arrangements, which can be something as simple as a locked cupboard.
An E licence is for "MSSA", Military Style Semi-Automatics which is any semi-auto rimfire long gun that holds >15 rounds or semi-auto centrefire long gun that holds >7 or any semi-auto long guns with "evil" attachments i.e. free standing pistol grip, bayonet lug, flash suppressor etc. They require a safe and a reason to own, Three gun is always a good reason. Note: this all applies to semi-auto only, hence my weird mates Lee-Enfield that he re-chambered to 7.62 x 39 and modified to take 30 round AK mags is a basic A category firearm. That boys not quite right in the head.
A C licence is a collectors licence and allows you to own anything you like including full-auto, although you can't fire anything on a C licence.
A D licence is a dealers licence, roughly equivalent to a FFL.
All in all it's not too bad here compared to most other Commonwealth countries. Not too anti-gun, roughly 1 in 14 adult New Zealanders has a firearms licence and the 2 recent big anti-gun groups here are both now defunct. But perceptions are definitely changing for the worse. 20 years ago I was stopped on my motorcycle by a cop while I was carrying a Mossberg 500 and a .22 rifle slung over my shoulder, he didn't even mention them, just gave me a lecture about my speed and sent me on my way, would not go down like that today!
Whoo, that is way too long, sorry guys.
cheers,
Welcome from Tn. Don
