The National Party says the Government being soft on crime is to blame, while police say firearms offences in the region are stable rather than rising.
Three shots from a .22 calibre firearm were fired in Manor Pl on Monday, prompting a heavy police response.
Two addresses, in Oxford and Carroll Sts, were raided by the armed offenders squad in relation to the incident and a 44-year-old man was arrested later that day.
A police spokesman said the man appeared in court yesterday charged with two counts of using a firearm to intimidate.
He had been remanded in custody, the spokesman said.
Last night, police were not ruling out further arrests in relation to the incident, including of another person understood to be a mask-wearing man seen by witnesses.
The incident follows two firearms incidents last month which resulted in extensive deployments of armed officers.
On March 3, a man sparked an eight-hour rooftop standoff with armed officers after allegedly threatening to shoot police while wielding an imitation firearm.
A search of his vehicle later revealed a .308 firearm and various bladed weapons, police said.
A week later, on March 10, a shotgun was allegedly fired from one car to another in Thomas Burns St.
Armed police searched the wrong home later that afternoon, but four days later arrested a 25-year-old man who has been charged with attempted murder.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich said the string of gun crimes was "quite concerning" and he hoped such incidents did not become a regular occurrence.
He had not yet talked to police about them, Mr Radich said.
Officers had responded quickly to the Manor Pl incident and taken a person into custody almost immediately, and it ultimately appeared they had the situation in hand.
The quick arrest would probably deter others, he said.
Relieving Otago Coastal area commander Inspector Craig Brown acknowledged many Dunedin residents were concerned following the Manor Pl incident.
Hopefully, the arrest and court appearance of the alleged offender provided some reassurance, as officers acted quickly to seize firearms and bring offenders before the courts, he said.
"Police take all incidents of offending in which a firearm is involved very seriously," Insp Brown said.
The South had its share of firearms-related incidents, as did all police districts.
"While we acknowledge that there have been several incidents of concern recently, our continuous review of long-term trends in reported crime suggests that offending involving firearms is stable rather than trending upward," Insp Brown said.
He encouraged people to call 111 if they heard or saw anything concerning in their neighbourhood.
National Party police spokesman Mark Mitchell said while Southern police had similar capabilities to other districts, resources were stretched dealing with an increase in violent crime.
Crime was rising across New Zealand and, as a result, many people no longer felt safe, Mr Mitchell said.
Police data showed 350,000 people were the victims of crime last year, an increase of 46% since 2017, and under Labour there had been a 33% increase in violent crime and a 140% increase in serious assaults resulting in injury, he said.
"The working environment for a front-line police officer is now more dangerous than it was five years ago," Mr Mitchell said.
Written parliamentary questions he filed showed the Southern district armed offenders squad was deployed on 189 occasions last year, almost three times higher than in 2017.
Spikes in gun crime were often driven by disputes between organised crime groups, he said.
"The sad reality for New Zealand is that offenders are now carrying firearms more often and are more likely to use them," Mr Mitchell said.
A spokesman for Police Minister Ginny Andersen referred a request for comment to police.
