Proactive release of papers considered as part of the Royal Commission into the Terrorist Attacks on Christchurch Mosques

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attacks on Christchurch Mosques (RCOI) was instigated by the Prime Minister in response to the attacks on March 15, 2019.

The RCOI terms of reference were to investigate what State Sector agencies – including New Zealand Police – knew about the individual’s activities before the attack, measures agencies could have taken to prevent the attack, and measures agencies should take to prevent such attacks in the future.

Section 15 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry prohibits any release of the Commission’s questions and Police’s answers. The documents below were considered as part of the Inquiry and can be released as they existed prior to the Royal Commission.

Some information has been withheld

These papers are now being released with some information unredacted.

Certain information in the documents have been withheld under one or more of the following sections of the Official Information Act 1982:

• Information is withheld under section 9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of natural persons.

Firearms documents

These documents are the policy, law, and regulations on firearms that existed on 15 March 2019. Note many of these have been updated or replaced since that time.

• Arms Manual 2002 (PDF 821KB)
• Firearms Licence Vetting Guide, 2011 (PDF 1.7MB)
• Pistol Association NZ Letter of Agreement, 2018 (PDF 214KB)
• Arms Act 1983 (as at 12 April 2019) (PDF 723KB)
• Master Vetting Guide, May 2005 (PDF 343KB)
• Arms Regulations 1992 (as at 12 April 2019) (PDF 525KB)

For further details, see Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Terrorist Attack on Christchurch Mosques.