The Police Minister is describing the first gun buy-back events as a solid start.
They were held at Riccarton Racecourse in Christchurch over the weekend. Stuart Nash says 378 people dropped off 542 firearms and 578 accessories.
"The Government will pay out just over $1 million in the next working 10 days, and from my understanding, the vast majority of people were very happy with the price they received for their firearms. Overall, a resounding success."
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There are more than 250 events planned throughout the country. Nash says it is hard to know whether the weekend's haul was a good number of guns or not, with no official records of just how many there are out there.
"I suspect that's what happened is that a lot of people, they're just waiting to see how this goes. Now they've seen police have run this incredibly professionally, you'll find a lot more people will be lining up and handing them in."
It's estimated the buyback scheme will cost somewhere between $100 and $200 million all-up.
"Time will tell whether we've got that right, or whether we'll need to go back to the Minister of Finance - who said on Budget night that if we need more money, he'll make sure there is money there."
In April, Nash said the money would be spent even if it cost $1 billion.
The next collection event is on Wednesday at Waipu in Northland.
Police said the Christchurch collection went well.
"This weekend has been a great success but we are fully aware that this is just the start of what will be a six-month process," said Acting Canterbury District Commander Mike Johnson.
"We really appreciate that so many people came along to our events prepared with their notification number, firearms licence and bank details."
Owners who showed up to surrender their weapons that Newshub spoke to seemed overall generally happy with the compensation and process.
Newshub.
