New Zealand gun buyback failure
(AP Photo/Nick Perry, File)

Gun registration almost inevitably leads to gun confiscations. But along the way, people on the gun owner registry can enjoy the added bonus of inevitable data breaches that expose their identities to the public including criminals who would like to steal their firearms.

This has happened (yet again) in New Zealand in recent days. Government bureaucrats in Kiwiland exposed the personal info of registered gun owners, supposedly by mistake.

Mistaken or not, the damage has been done. Given that gun control impacts the little (read: law-abiding) people most, it isn’t surprising that many of those who can afford to jump through all of the gun registry hoops are prominent residents.

And again, it’s happened before. In 2019, the government’s original firearm registration website exposed participants’ data, including their bank account information. Last year, bumbling police left behind the physical records of local registry participants during their move to a new facility.

From Reason Magazine . . .

After the 2019 mass shooting at a Christchurch mosque, the country enacted a series of reforms intended to prevent such tragedies in the future. Along with a ban on most semi-automatic firearms and a gun buyback that netted more than 50,000 weapons, one provision empowered New Zealand’s Firearms Safety Authority to “effectively regulate the legitimate possession and use of firearms.” In other words: a national “firearms registry” that will “link firearms to licence holders, so there is a clear picture of the legally held firearms in New Zealand and improved ability to trace firearms,” according to Executive Director Angela Brazier.

Last week, a joint email went out from the Firearms Safety Authority and the Auckland Central Police District to 147 registered gun owners, advising them that their addresses might need to be updated. Unfortunately, the emails were all listed in the CC field instead of the BCC field, which would be hidden. As a result, each recipient of the email not only saw every single other recipient’s email address but, in many cases, first and last names as well.

As The New Zealand Herald noted, “The visible addresses included various prominent Auckland residents, including lawyers, company directors, police officers and government officials.”

This is not the only, or even the most severe, breach of New Zealand gun owners’ data in recent memory. During the 2019 gun buyback, the government set up a website for gun owners to register their weapons for relinquishment. Police later admitted that visitors to the site could easily access other registrants’ personal information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and bank account information. And in 2022, thieves stole as many as 400 gun owners’ records from an abandoned police precinct after police officials neglected to destroy the files before moving operations to a new building.

While it remains one of the holy grails of the Civilian Disarmament Industrial Complex, nothing good comes from gun registration schemes. Federal law bans it, though that hasn’t meant much to ATF and other federal agencies. That’s why we need to continue to fight the on measures such as “universal background checks” with every tool we have available.

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39 COMMENTS

  1. You keep thinking these leaks are a bug. They’re a FEATURE! Just another way to punish people for not bending a knee to the State

  2. Californa says, “Hold my beer.”

    Our CCW and DROS databases have been “breached” multiple times.

    Because reasons.

    • NYC and several counties got doxxed by a newspaper who bitched a fit when their employees address were leaked. I expect a lot more of one coming soon……..and probably picking up a turret press for some of my oddball loadings.

  3. “New Zealand is a country of thirty thousand million sheep, three million of whom think they are human.” – Barry Humphries

    If the people of New Zealand want to be part of our world, I believe they should hop off their islands, and push ’em closer.” – Lewis Black

    • I also remember when some Americans made fun of the French for not blindly following us into the sad joke that was the invasion of Iraq in 2003. “Freedom fries,” dumping French wine in the street, and memorable quotes like “going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion.” Except…the French were right, while those who invaded Iraq contributed to the birth of a terrorist group known as ISIS, great work!

      Regarding New Zealand, our homicide rate is 3 to 4 times greater than theirs. I think they’re doing alright. In terms of violent crimes, as a nation we compete with the likes of Somalia and Botswana, it’s great. Last but not least, more than 70% of mass shootings in developed countries happen in the USA.

      • our population is 3 to 4 times in size also.
        so what’s your point ?
        other then on your head ?

      • MT, for your edification, even the NYT your fav rag, had to admit that Saddam had WMD. Even if you are still in the “Land of Denial”.
        As to the New Zealand homicide rate, in spite of being two English speaking countries, our cultures are vastly different.
        Now isn’t it time for you to read your Karl Marx books?

  5. Nothing really new…Gun hating US Newspapers have published the names and addresses of FFLs.

    • I’ve got news for you. Your computer was breached before you bought it. Every major chip and platform manufacturer has built-in a “management layer” that is accessible by all western intelligence agencies.

      Do you really think Apple’s “secure enclave” isn’t accessible by all the three letter agencies?

  7. Eventually, the US population is going to have to teach our future politicians the truth behind the supposed Admiral Yamamoto quote “There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”

  8. Screw No Zealand. Why would they need guns when the good old U.S of A can bail them out if theres ever any trouble (again)

  9. I just got back from a few weeks in New Zealand went by a couple of gun stores to have a look and I’m glad that I got out of the country when I did and that I live in America and was able to gain citizenship. I did speak to one of the guys that worked at one of the gun shops, and he is desperately trying to make it to America, New Zealand is in the process of mandatory registration of all firearms, the current restrictions they have in place are absurd. All that being said my biggest problem with New Zealand and it’s firearms laws is their refusal to understand that self-defense is the primary reason one owns a firearm everything else is secondary.

    • You spent a few weeks in New Zealand and all you have to talk about are gun shops and local laws, that’s depressing. During your stay, how often did you think “I wish I was able to carry my gun right now, I don’t feel safe here?” Probably not once if we’re being honest here.

      • I don’t carry a gun because I don’t feel safe I carry a gun in the constant pursuit of the defense of innocence. That being said, I did enjoy my time, but I’m glad I live in a country that understands self-defense is a basic human right. I also did some hunting while over there so I was rolling around with a gun for a bit and did have access to firearms outside of that also.

      • “Feeling” safe should not be confused with actual safety.

        Plenty of people feel safe right until the moment when they are not.

      • MT, apparently you are oblivious to the violent crime all around. But then you are oblivious anyway.

  11. How many administrators lost their jobs due to the breach? Surely it was someone’s responsibility to secure the data.

    The people of New Zealand are fools. You can not give unchecked power to government and expect that those powers will not be used against you eventually.

    Admittedly the US does a poor job of holding its administrative state accountable for failure, but it doesn’t appear to be nearly as bad as New Zealand.

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