A group representing rural women has raised concerns about gun licence applicants being interviewed in the presence of their spouses.
Rural Woman New Zealand raised the issue at a meeting of the Firearms Community Advisory Forum, asking police if it was standard practice to interview a family referee in the presence of the applicant.
It is police policy to ensure interviews of referees are done in isolation away from the applicant to ensure answers are as genuine as possible and not influenced by others.
Rural Woman president Gill Naylor said the organisation had heard of cases where applicants were interviewed in front of their spouses, but had no solid data to ascertain if it was common practice.
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Good vetting practices were important to keep women and children safe: "We believe that someone who is abusive towards their family is not fit and proper," Naylor said.
Raising the query helped make sure police were keeping on top of training vetting agents and evaluating their processes, Naylor said.
Police director of partnerships, arms safety and control Superintendent Mike McIlraith told the meeting that applicants should never be interviewed in the presence of their spouses and called for examples to be provided to police.
The FCAF was set up last year as part of the Government's efforts to reform New Zealand's firearms licensing regime in the wake of the mosque terror attacks in Christchurch.
McIlraith said after the meeting that police vetting staff had undertaken significant refresher training in the past 12 months to ensure they are equipped to do the job. The training included the need to ensure interviews were conducted with no one else present. - Otago Daily Times
