What IS A Gun (Officially)?

You probably think that you know what a GUN is .. but that's likely not the full story as these understandings are passed into the hands (and bank accounts) of "professionals" such as lawyers, police, and politicians ("briefs, beefs, & bents") - who get paid to determine officially - for an adequate fee - just what constitutes a firearm:

- As I write this in late 2019 - the Arms Act 1983 defines or "Interprets" for all time what is a firearm here in New Zealand. - However .. by next week or any other future date - they may possibly have rewritten this definition  'By Order In Council':

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Arms Act 1983 - Reprinted as at 1 July 2019:
Section 2 Interpretation -  Part 1 ..

firearm —

(a)

means anything from which any shot, bullet, missile, or other projectile can be discharged by force of explosive; and

(b)

includes—

(i)

anything that has been adapted so that it can be used to discharge a shot, bullet, missile, or other projectile by force of explosive; and

(ii)

anything which is not for the time being capable of discharging any shot, bullet, missile, or other projectile but which, by its completion or the replacement of any component part or parts or the correction or repair of any defect or defects, would be a firearm within the meaning of paragraph (a) or subparagraph (i); and

(iii)

anything (being a firearm within the meaning of paragraph (a) or subparagraph (i)) which is for the time being dismantled or partially dismantled; and

(iv)

any specially dangerous airgun

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This above is a very comprehensive & all-encompassing interpretation of what is a firearm .. for example if I were to have an engineer's workshop vise bolted to a workshop bench and if I were dumb enough to clamp a .308" cartridge between it's jaws and discharge it by sharply hitting it with the rounded face of a ball peen hammer ... according to the Arms Act 1983 - the workbench complete with vise (& hammer?) may now be classified as a firearm within the meaning of the act.

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- So what then now is a Prohibited Firearm? .. Section 2A is a new insertion into the amended 1983 Act defining a

Prohibited Firearm:

2AMeaning of prohibited firearm

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, prohibited firearm—

(a)

means any of the following firearms:

(i)

a semi-automatic firearm (except a pistol), other than—

(A)

a semi-automatic firearm that is capable of firing only 0.22 calibre or lower rimfire cartridges and that has a magazine, whether or not detachable or otherwise externally fed, that is capable of holding no more than 10 cartridges commensurate with that firearm’s chamber size:

(B)

a semi-automatic shotgun with a non-detachable tubular magazine or magazines that are capable of holding no more than 5 cartridges commensurate with that firearm’s chamber size:

(ii)

a pump-action shotgun that is capable of being used with a detachable magazine:

(iii)

a pump-action shotgun that has a non-detachable tubular magazine or magazines that are capable of holding more than 5 cartridges commensurate with that firearm’s chamber size:

(b)

includes any other firearm declared by Order in Council made under section 74A to be a prohibited firearm for the purposes of this Act.

Section 2A: inserted, on 12 April 2019, by section 5 of the Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 12).

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- This is the current legal status here in NZ .. If you can find any benefit to the civilian population from such prohibition as proscribed above - you are wiser than I,

Marty K.