The Police Association says there are too many guns in the hands of people not qualified to use them.

LISTEN ABOVE: Firearm safety specialist Nicole McKee speaks to Mike Hosking

A man will appear in court today charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, after a toddler died yesterday at a South Auckland property from gunshot injuries.

President Greg O'Connor says the event is tragic, but preventable.

"No police officer is going to be surprised at this because there are so many firearms in houses and in the hands of people who are not trained to use them."

"All of the statistics around firearms are rising considerably" he warned.

"It's seizures, firearms offences, and just this week we heard about the number of firearms used against police."

Firearm safety specialist Nicole McKee told Mike Hosking getting a gun and licence legally is quite a stringent process, but there are ways of getting guns illegally.

She suggested "burglary, or getting it on the internet if you really wanted to use false information" as methods people have used.

"There's lots of ways to get them legally, hopefully not as many ways to obtain them illegally."