Police have admitted nearly 40 firearms licence applicants have had their privacy breached.
A police spokesperson told Newshub 38 people had been impacted by the "localised" privacy breach after an email was sent advising the recipients to undertake a firearms safety course.
Newshub contacted police after being advised by a firearms licence applicant he had been copied into the same email as nearly 40 others, raising concerns about his privacy.
"Instead of blind copying everyone into the email, the firearms licensing administrator has simply added everyone's emails in," he said.
"This is a terrible way to send emails especially regarding the potential ownership and use of firearms."
However, police said the breach was limited to just people's email addresses. The spokesperson said the breach was "human error" and not usual practice.
"Police will be contacting those involved to inform them of the privacy breach and apologise for the error."
The ACT Party has blasted police for the latest breach. It comes after a massive data breach in 2019 revealed firearm owners' personal details amid the gun buyback scheme.
ACT MP Nicole McKee said the breach showed police couldn't be trusted with a firearms register - set to be developed during the next three years as part of the Government's second tranche of gun law changes.
"A gun register, if leaked, will become a steal-to-order list for gangs and criminals," said McKee, ACT's firearms law reform spokesperson.
"The Government must abandon its attempt to register every firearm in the country.
"Centralising this information within an agency which has shown time and again that it cannot be trusted to manage it, cannot be allowed to proceed."
