Summarised by Centrist
Cam Slater of New Zealand news site The Good Oil has exposed a privacy breach involving the security of the country’s firearms registry. Slater reports that police mistakenly emailed him confidential information, detailing the ownership and location of a restricted firearm.
“The document… included the firearms licence number and name of the importer in Christchurch and the buyer’s full name, address in Auckland, and his firearms licence number,” Slater says.
A slip-up of this scale could have put the firearms owner at risk, a point Slater brings home: “Imagine if police had sent these details to someone with connections to the criminal underworld and gangs.”
New Zealand’s gun registry system is managed by Te Tari Pūreke (Firearm Safety Authority), along with the police. Slater asserts, “We were told… the gun register would be safe and secure, and yet here is proof that details of restricted weapons are being sent out… without redaction to unrelated parties.”
Police have now launched an investigation, with a Police National HQ Superintendent contacting Slater, requesting him to remove his post on X. Slater, however, says he will not comply, stating: “If I took down this article… the Police would treat that as a win and deal with this in darkness.”
