MEDIA RELEASE 

GOVERNMENT CAN'T BE TRUSTED WITH FIREARMS LICENCE DATA

WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH 2020

Revelations that firearms licences were included in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Tuia250 data breach has further eroded trust with licenced firearms owners.

Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) spokesperson Nicole McKee says:

“This latest revelation shows yet another government privacy breach putting licenced firearms owners and their families at risk.

“What’s more intolerable is that it looks like the Ministry of Culture was more concerned with saving the government from embarrassment than disclosing the nature of the breach to the public.”

McKee says that this is the type of data breach licenced firearms owners fear with the proposed firearms register.

“In the space of a few months we have seen multiple breaches of licenced firearms owners’ privacy. First with the Police firearms notification system and now with Tuia250.

“This culture of privacy breaches shows that the government’s proposed firearms register will be a danger to the licenced firearms community.”

ENDS