Is it legal to export AR upper New Zealand?

[Robidouxs]

I have someone that wants to purchase an AR upper receiver. The problem is that the buyer is located in New Zealand. I am hesitant to ship since I know there are ITAR and other lovely restrictions that could land me in serious trouble.

This is what I would be exporting if it is possible to do so legally.



How would I legally export this to New Zealand?

[theicecreamdan]

<edit> DONT </edit>modify it into a flashlight

[Mesa Tactical]

How would I legally export this to New Zealand?

It is ITAR controlled. The first step to legal export is to pay $2,200 to the State Department for an export license.

Don't do it.

[elSquid]

How would I legally export this to New Zealand?

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/general/international_sales.aspx

-- Michael

[Jason_2111]

Big NO-NO.

[ICONIC]

New Zealand has some crazy gun laws when it comes to semi-auto rifles. I know it is only an upper reciever, but I can just see this going sideways for you. I say sell it here on the forum and save yourself the hassle

[secondshooter]

well it looks like i cant import it!, we do have crazy laws but many things are exempt or just require a simple permit from the police. we have AR15s here but they fall into 2 catagories, evil black gun = E catagory, can have all military features less full auto .you can have the same rifle with out a flash supressor, bayonet lug, and only a 7 round mag with no restrictions on an A catagory licence. the people who make our laws dont know anything about firearms..

[CCWFacts]

I have someone that wants to purchase an AR upper receiver. The problem is that the buyer is located in New Zealand. I am hesitant to ship since I know there are ITAR and other lovely restrictions that could land me in serious trouble.

Your hesitation is for good reason. DON'T DO IT. Some very unfortunate American apparently shipped AR-15 mags to Norway and is probably going to be put through the wringer. Don't do it!

modify it into a flashlight

I know you're making a joke, but this is seriously illegal and perilous to both the exporter and importer. It's not even good to make jokes about it.

Big NO-NO.

Exactly. DON'T DO IT! Say "no, there's no way I can do it."

You can't even ship parts of it, like the barrel, the bolt. It's better to not ship anything firearm related unless you are absolutely certain it is not an ITAR controlled part, and even then, why take any risk at all for the trivial amount of money you might get from the transaction? NOT WORTH IT.

[ojisan]

^ US Gov't is being very restrictive on all exports, especially since Obama was elected and Hiillary is in charge of the State Dep't, which ultimately controls all exports.
Items such as the AR upper "can only be sold through approved channels to a known end user"....translation: to a friendly foreign goverment for their military use only.

The recent NSSF and NRA reports says US firearms and accessories exports are down 57% last year due to the excessive restrictions, and that's compared to a 30+% reduction the previous year.
There are legistlative efforts being made now to try and fix the situation.

The people who make our laws dont know anything about firearms either.

[Farrier-1]

SIMPLE. DON'T BE STUPID!

[secondshooter]

I hope your govt do change the laws to help firearms exporters(and hungry ar15 shooters in new zealand), its fair enough not exporting to dodgy countries but we have been fighting on the same side as you guys since WW1.
in new zealand ar 15 parts are hard to come by, recently the market has been flooded with the norinco version of the ar, its a bummer we cant get quality US made gear, china wins with more exports, US loses exports, NZ gets poor quality clones so we lose too.

[choprzrul]

Our government doesn't want any competition from its citizens on the world's gun marketplace....

.

[littlejake]

You would be surprised what's ITAR restricted. A piece of paper can be restricted if it has information on weapons. Some very fast computer chips have been ITAR restricted; and some encryption software. Some data on technology has been restricted under ITAR.

Some years back, MicroSoft could not export their 128 bit encrypted browser -- had to be the 40 bit.

[vincewarde]

I hope your govt do change the laws to help firearms exporters(and hungry ar15 shooters in new zealand), its fair enough not exporting to dodgy countries but we have been fighting on the same side as you guys since WW1.
in new zealand ar 15 parts are hard to come by, recently the market has been flooded with the norinco version of the ar, its a bummer we cant get quality US made gear, china wins with more exports, US loses exports, NZ gets poor quality clones so we lose too.

What do you have to do to make an AR15 compliant with your gun laws?

I know that in the UK they have to be converted to straight pull bolt action - which requires a completely different upper receiver (with a cut for an operating handle).

I'm amazed that with the scores of AR builders and parts suppliers here in the US, none have distributors in NZ.

[Mesa Tactical]

I hope your govt do change the laws to help firearms exporters(and hungry ar15 shooters in new zealand), its fair enough not exporting to dodgy countries but we have been fighting on the same side as you guys since WW1.

Oh, munitions exports to New Zealand are legal, it just has to be done with an export license. Export licenses are so expensive and cumbersome to procure and maintain that only larger distributors or manufacturers will bother with them. We are a year into trying to secure an export license. It's a real hassle - and a big potential legal liability - for a small business that doesn't have an export compliance department.

All the big manufacturers and distributors will have export licenses and so can export to New Zealand with relative ease. That they do not do so is probably down to your domestic market. It might be too small for the additional paperwork required (receiving nations have their own import red tape), or maybe New Zealand doesn't have competent importers who are willing or able to process imports and market products.

If there is something you want that does not seem to be generally available, talk to your big importer-distributors and see what they can do. Working through them is probably the only way you are going to be able to get your hands on ITAR controlled stuff.

Back in the 1980s when I was selling data communications equipment New Zealand was our biggest export market for a year or two (and, yes, our 64Kbps X.25 gateways were considered munitions and we needed to jump through hoops to export them). Have no idea where the kit was going. All those sheep?