The country's threat level remains high as police in Christchurch continue to carry heavy firearms.

All front-line police officers in all regions – rural and urban – have been instructed by Police Commissioner Mike Bush to carry guns while on duty.

Officers across the country police have glocks on their hips and Bushmaster semi-automatics at the ready in their cars.

Commissioner Mike Bush told Mike Hosking the stance is being reviewed on a regular basis with the next assessment due at the end of the week.

He can't say how long police will continue carrying guns but says the threat level is still considered high so they need to be extra vigilant to prevent copycats or retaliation attacks.

"We don't have any specific threats we are currently following up, but we do need to be prepared.

"We are monitoring lots of different things, I can't go into it too much apart from saying we are not pursuing any other threats at this point. People do feel secure seeing police armed and ready to respond at a moments notice."

Frontline police officers in Canterbury were given the right to carry guns last month while a 20-year-old man linked to a person involved a shoot-out in Christchurch was on the loose.