Government's tighter gun laws include register to track firearms and new offences and penalties

The Government says new rules to tighten up New Zealand's gun laws will prevent the flow of guns into the black market.

Legislation will now confirm that owning a firearm is a privilege, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

On Friday, Ardern and Police Minister Stuart Nash announced the Government was taking the steps to ensure gun ownership was restricted to responsible users and stop the black market trade of guns, at an event in Christchurch that marked six months since the terror attack.

It follows criticism from the National Party, which last month saw a leaked early draft of the bill and revealed they were unlikely to support it because it hit law-abiding firearms owners and gun clubs the hardest, rather than gangs and genuine criminals.

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The new laws will include an online, self-service firearms registry, similar to the motor vehicle register operated by the NZ Transport Agency.

It will also see new offences and harsher penalties and the firearms licence period shortened from 10 years to five years, which will also be required to buy firearm parts, magazines, and ammunition. A dealer's licences will also be tightened by broadening the range of activities for which a dealer licence will be required.

A new system of warning flags will be set up to show if a person may not be a fit and proper person to hold a firearms licence.

Health practitioners will also be able notify police if they have concerns about a licence firearms owner's health or wellbeing and a licensing regime for shooting clubs and ranges would be created.

A Police Commissioner's Firearms Advisory Group will also be set up to ensure the gun laws are enforced and will include people from within and outside the firearms community.

The Opposition had urged the Government to get serious on criminals and look at beefing up the law, by adding Firearm Prohibition Orders (FPO) but the Government has initially rejected this.

It has asked police to do more work to design an FPO system to restrict access to firearms by serious violent offenders.

Cabinet would discuss options later this year and the public will be asked for feedback on the potential shape of such a regime.

In April, the Government took action to remove military style semi-automatics to ensuring communities were as protected as they can be from the potential for another horrific attack like March 15, Ardern said.

Now the new laws would prevent firearms from reaching the hands of criminals, she said.

Every person who was currently found guilty of selling or supplying a firearm to an unlicensed person was liable for a term of imprisonment not exceeding three months or a fine of $1,000. The Bill would increase those penalties to two years and $20,000 respectively.

It will also be a new offence for providing information to the registry known to be false or misleading, with a maximum penalty of $20,000 or two years imprisonment.

Some of the changes in the Bill would improve the ability to monitor firearms lawfully entering and exiting the country and enhance the Government's ability to combat organised crime, Ardern said.

Nash said the police needed to have the tools and legislation and all the significant changes in the Bill were needed.

"Parliament will review the Bill five years after it has been enacted so we can be sure it is working how we intend it to.

"The aim of these changes is to keep our communities safe by strengthening the framework for the safe use and control of firearms," Nash said.

About 18,204 firearms offences had been committed between 2015 and 2018.

The Arms Legislation Bill will be introduced to Parliament on Friday and will have its first reading on September 24. Unlike the first tranche of urgent gun law, it will scrutinised in a full Select Committee process.