Consultation on draft guidelines for schools developing a firearms policy

We don't support the unsupervised access of firearms in schools. We do, however, acknowledge that there may be legitimate circumstances where firearms may be part of students’ education and/or sporting activity. For this reason we've developed draft guidelines to help schools develop a firearms policy.

About the draft guidelines

The guidelines will support boards of trustees to:

  • understand their roles and responsibilities
  • ensure they meet their obligations under the Arms Act 1983, Arms Regulations 1992 and Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
  • clarify situations when firearms are permitted in schools and the processes that must be followed.

To develop the guidelines we worked with:

  • New Zealand Schools’ Trustees Association (NZSTA)
  • New Zealand Police
  • the Schools Health and Safety Sector Reference Group (which includes AIMS, APIS, APPA, NKAI, NZPF, NZEI, NZSSPC, SEPA, SPANZ, TKKM, ERO, WorkSafe).

Draft guidelines for schools developing a firearms policy [PDF, 246 KB]

Tools and resources to support the draft guidelines for schools developing a firearms policy [PDF, 223 KB]

Our consultation process

Consultation on the draft guidelines closed 11 April 2018.

In May 2018, the Sector Reference Group met in Wellington to review feedback, draft a summary report, and make any recommended changes to the draft guidelines.

Approved guidelines

The final guidelines were published in July 2018.

Guidelines for schools to develop or review a firearms policy

The guidelines were sent to schools through the school leaders bulletin, and are available on both the Ministry of Education and NZSTA's websites.

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