Before you apply

Check what the endorsement allows you to do, who can apply and what you need to provide in your application.

Firearms Registry requirements

If you’re applying for or reapplying for a firearms licence or endorsement, you must register all items in your possession within 30 days of submission, including any items for which you hold a permit.

For more information, see Firearms Registry

What is a memento or heirloom?

An heirloom is a firearm or other arms item your family has kept for generations and has special significance for you.
A memento is a firearm or other arms item you keep in memory of a person or event and has special significance for you.
Heirlooms and mementos are not collections, and the purpose of this endorsement is not to gather a collection of arms items.

To collect arms items, you must apply and be approved for a bona-fide collector endorsement.

When you need an endorsement

You must apply for an endorsement if you want to keep any of the following items as a memento or heirloom:

pistols
restricted weapons
restricted firearms
restricted magazines.

For definitions of these items in the Arms Act 2026, visit:

Who is eligible to apply

If the endorsement is for restricted firearms or restricted magazines, you must:

be aged 18 or over
have a New Zealand firearms licence, or be applying for one.

If the endorsement is for pistols or restricted weapons, you must:

have a New Zealand firearms licence, or be applying for one.

How long an endorsement lasts

An endorsement lasts until:

your firearms licence expires or is surrendered or revoked
your endorsement is surrendered or revoked.

When you reapply for your firearms licence, you must also reapply for your endorsement.

How much it costs

Application fees:

apply for an endorsement – $204
apply for other endorsements at the same time, you only pay $204 in total.

This endorsement fee is in addition to a firearms licence application fee.

If you are only applying for a Memento / Heirloom or a Broadcaster / Theatrical Armourer endorsement you must pay the application fee at a NZ Post shop.

If you are not applying through MyFirearms, pay your application fee at a NZ Post shop.

Fees include GST, cover the cost of processing your application, and are not refundable regardless of the outcome of your application.

Information you need to provide in your application

When you apply for an endorsement, you need to provide the following information.

Reasons for possessing firearms or other arms items

If the item is an heirloom, you need to describe when and how it came into your family and why it is of significance to you.

If the item is a memento, you need to describe the event or person it is kept in memory of, and how it is of special significance to you.

Your suitability

You need to describe, in your own words:

why you are a suitable person to have access to pistols, restricted weapons, restricted firearms or restricted magazines
your obligations.

For information about your obligations, visit Conditions

Security arrangements

You must:

provide the address where you will store the items
describe your security arrangements.

Your security arrangements will be inspected.

If you do not have secure storage yet, you will not be allowed to take possession of the items until you have installed endorsement level security.

A photo – if you are applying only for an endorsement

If you are only applying for an endorsement, and not a licence, you must provide a photo.

You must supply a recent, good quality digital photograph that is a good likeness of yourself. A scanned copy of a photograph will not be accepted.

The photograph must meet the minimum requirements. Passport photos from commercial outlets will typically meet these requirements.

This means the photograph must:

have been taken within the last 12 months
be a full front view of your face – chin to forehead and both sides of your face
show head and shoulders, with the head filling most of the photograph
be of you without a hat or head covering (except where your religion requires you to wear a hat or head covering)
have a plain, light-coloured background
be in colour and in focus
be in portrait format (with a 4:3 aspect ratio)
be in JPG or JPEG format
be between 25KB and 10MB
be between 900 and 4500 pixels wide and 1200 and 6000 pixels high.

We will not accept photographs that do not meet these standards.

Referees

You will be asked to provide a referee who understands the special significance of the arms item to you.

They do not need to have a firearms licence.

You may have to answer the same questions in your firearms licence application and your endorsement application – even if you are applying for them at the same time.

Applying for permits

Once you have an endorsement, you are eligible to apply for a permit to possess or import your memento or heirloom item.