Wellington, May 12 NZPA - Police have defended themselves after a firearm safety advocate claimed they had "lost control" of the number of guns in the country.

Concerns over New Zealand's firearms laws arose after an arsenal of weapons was found at Napier gunman Jan Molenaar's house following a 50-hour siege last week.

Molenaar shot and killed Senior Constable Len Snee and wounded two other officers and a civilian when police conducted a drug search at his home last Thursday.

One of the two officers wounded, Senior Constable Bruce Miller, remained in a critical condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital today, while the second officer, Senior Constable Grant Diver, was in a stable condition in a general ward.

The civilian, Leonard Holmwood, was today taken off the critical list after his condition improved. He is now in a serious condition.

Molenaar was found dead in a bedroom after police stormed his Chaucer Road home on Saturday.

Police found 18 semi-automatic and military-style weapons in the house and another guns in his garage.

Molenaar had surrendered his firearms licence in 1994.

New Zelaland Gun safety advocate Philip Alpers said it was "a perfect illustration of how the police have lost control over the situation".

There were about 225,000 licensed firearm owners with about 1.2 million guns in New Zealand, he said.

Mr Alpers, who works at the University of Sydney lecturing in gun safety, said police did not know exactly how many gun owners were without licences and had "no idea of how many guns are out there".

Police national manager of operations Tony McLeod told NZPA the current laws made it difficult to judge how many guns there were.

"The current legislation requires us to determine whether somebody who wants a gun is fit and proper.

"Once we've made that determination, that a person is fit and proper to own sporting firearms then that person can buy as many firearms as they want."

However, Mr McLeod said he did not believe police had lost control.

"It's a bit like drivers' licences, we don't know how many people out there are driving cars without licences," Mr McLeod said.

"There will always be some people who operate outside the law regardless of whether it's a law in relation to property theft, driving or firearms.

"That's one of the challenges of policing, trying to deal with those people who make conscious decisions to operate outside the law."

Mr McLeod said there was no easy way of knowing how many others had firearms without licences.

Police Minister Judith Collins said in Parliament today she would ask police to consider the issue of online gun sales.

"I am advised that other countries do have online sales, including the UK, Australia and the US," she said.

Council of Licensed Firearms Owners member Trevor Dykes said tougher laws would not have stopped Molenaar obtaining weapons and cautioned against a "knee-jerk reaction".

"The situation you had in Napier is the licence was revoked, so he just went out and got the firearms illegally anyway. All the legislation in the world won't stop that from happening."

A post mortem was conducted on the body of Molenaar in Wellington today but the results will not be released before tomorrow at the earliest.

Parliament observed a minute's silence this afternoon for Mr Snee and Prime Minister John Key, Police Minister Judith Collins and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples will attend his funeral at the Municipal Theatre in Napier tomorrow.

Several thousand people are expected to turn out for the service which will be relayed via television screens into three foyer areas in the outer theatre.

The service will also be broadcast outside for the public on speakers.

Police said seating inside the theatre would be limited with the lower area reserved for police staff, family and VIPs and the upper gallery for Mr Snee's close friends, rugby associates and members of the public.

Mr Snee will be carried into the Municipal Theatre by family members. His casket will be carried out of the theatre by his police colleagues.

Police will form a guard of honour along Tennyson St as the funeral procession leaves. There will also be a large contingent of police dogs from around the country also present.

The funeral cortege will travel along Tennyson St and turn right into Marine Parade. There will be a private cremation to follow.

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