User:Raaid Hussain/Firearms regulation in the United Kingdom

Article Draft

Lead

In the United Kingdom, access by the general public to firearms is subject to strict control measures. Members of the public may own rifles and shotguns, however, they must be properly licensed. The Police conduct several checks to ensure an applicant has good reason to own a gun. Most handguns have been banned in Great Britain since the Dunblane school massacre in 1996, as well as the Hungerford Massacre in 1987 and the Cumbria shootings in 2010. Further review of firearm certificate issuance took place following the Plymouth Shootings in 2021. Handguns are permitted in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man which have their own applicable laws. Scotland imposes its own additional licensing requirements for airguns.

Article body

Prohibited Firearms

• 1. Automatic and Burst-Fire Weapons:
     • Firearms capable of firing multiple rounds with a single trigger pull, such as machine guns and burst-fire weapons.
  2. Self-Loading or Pump-Action Rifled Guns:
     • Excludes those chambered for .22 rim-fire cartridges.
  3. Short-Barrel Firearms:
     • Firearms with a barrel length under 30 cm or an overall length under 60 cm, excluding air weapons, muzzle-loading guns, or firearms designed as signalling apparatus (e.g., handguns and revolvers).
  4. Self-Loading or Pump-Action Smooth-Bore Guns:
     • Excludes air weapons or those chambered for .22 rim-fire cartridges, with a barrel length less than 24 inches or an overall length less than 40 inches.
  5. Smooth-Bore Revolver Guns:
     • Except those chambered for 9mm rim-fire cartridges or muzzle-loading guns.
  6. Rocket Launchers and Mortars:
     • Designed for projecting stabilized missiles, excluding those for line-throwing, pyrotechnic, or signalling purposes.
  7. Self-Contained Gas Cartridge Air Guns:
     • Includes air rifles, air guns, and air pistols using self-contained gas cartridge systems (e.g., tandem air cartridges).
  8. Gas-Operated Rifles:
     • Rifles with chambers where empty cartridge cases are extracted using energy from propellant gas or energy stored by propellant gas (except for .22 rim-fire cartridges).
  9. Bump Stocks:
     • Devices that enable a firearm to shoot more rapidly by using the gun’s recoil to reset the trigger.
  10. Noxious Liquid, Gas, or Other Substance Weapons:
      • Weapons designed to discharge harmful substances (e.g., stun guns, electric shock devices, CS/PAVA spray).
  11. Explosive and Incendiary Ammunition:
      • Cartridges with bullets designed to explode on or immediately before impact, or containing harmful substances.
      • Incendiary ammunition that ignites on or before impact.
  12. Disguised Firearms:
      • Firearms disguised as other objects.
  13. Expanding Ammunition:
      • Ammunition designed for pistols that incorporates bullets designed to expand on impact (e.g., hollow and soft-point ammunition).
  14. Military Explosive Missiles:
      • Missiles designed to explode on or immediately before impact, intended for military use.
  15. Armor-Piercing Ammunition:
      • Ammunition designed to penetrate armor.
  16. Prohibited Projectile Components:
      • Any item designed to be projected as a missile from a weapon and incorporated in any of the preceding prohibited ammunition categories.

The Firearms Act of 1920 was introduced partly due to fears of a possible surge in crime from the large number of firearms available following World War I, as well as fears of working-class unrest during this period. The main aim of the Act, title "An Act to amend the law relating to firearms and other weapons and ammunition", was to enable the government to control the overseas arms trade and to fulfill its commitment to the 1919 Paris Arms Convention. The ongoing Anglo-Irish War may also have been a factor, as Britain and Ireland were at that time still in union with each other, and the Act also applied to Ireland. It required anyone wanting to purchase or possess a firearm or ammunition to obtain a firearm certificate. The certificate, which lasted for three years, specified not only the firearm but also the amount of ammunition the holder could buy or possess. Local chief constables decided who could obtain a certificate and had the power to exclude anyone of "intemperate habits" or "unsound mind", or anyone considered "for any reason unfitted to be trusted with firearms". Applicants for certificates also had to convince the police that they had a good reason for needing a certificate. The law did not affect smooth-bore guns, which were available for purchase without any form of paperwork. The penalty for violating the Act was a fine of up to £50 or "imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months", or both.

The right of individuals to bear arms had previously been, in the words of the 1689 Bill of Rights, "as allowed by law". The 1920 Act made this right conditional upon the Home Secretary and the police. A series of classified Home Office directives defined for the benefit of chief constables what constituted good reason to grant a certificate. They originally included self-defence.

As the 1920 Act did not prevent criminals from obtaining firearms illegally, in 1933 the Firearms and Imitation Firearms (Criminal Use) Bill was submitted to Parliament. It increased the punishment for the use of a gun in the commission of a crime and made it an offence punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment for anyone to "attempt to make use" of any firearm or imitation firearm to resist arrest. Possession of a real or imitation firearm was also made an offence unless the possessor could show he had it for "a lawful object".

Key Provisions of the 1920 Act included:

• Prohibition of buying, possessing, using, or carrying rifles and pistols, or their ammunition, without a certificate from a chief officer of police.
• Requirement for a firearm certificate to be granted by the chief officer of police of the district where the applicant resided.
• The chief officer of police had to be satisfied that the applicant had a good reason for requiring the certificate and could possess, use, and carry a firearm or ammunition without danger to public safety or peace.
• Firearm certificates were not granted to individuals prohibited by the Act from possessing firearms, those of intemperate habits or unsound mind, or those unfit to be trusted with firearms.
• Special provisions for firearm certificates for firearms or ammunition used solely for target practice or drill by members of an approved rifle club or cadet corps

The Firearms Act 1968 brought together all existing firearms legislation in a single statute. Disregarding minor changes, it formed the legal basis for British firearms control policy until the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 was put through Parliament in the aftermath of the 1987 Hungerford massacre. For the first time, it introduced controls for long-barrelled shotguns, in the form of Shotgun Certificates that, like Firearm Certificates, were issued by an area's chief constable in England, Scotland, and Wales. While applicants for Firearms Certificates had to show a good reason for possessing the firearm or ammunition, it did not apply to Shotgun Certificates. Firearms and ammunition had to be kept locked up in a secure place approved by the local police firearms officer.

The Act also prohibited the possession of firearms or ammunition by criminals who had been sentenced to imprisonment; those sentenced to three months to three years imprisonment were banned from possessing firearms or ammunition for five years, while those sentenced to longer terms were banned for life. However, an application could be made to have the prohibition removed.

The Act was accompanied by an amnesty; many older weapons were handed in to the police. It has remained a feature of British policing that from time to time a brief firearms amnesty is declared.

Additional Provisions and Offences

Subject to any exemption under the Act, it is an offence for a person to:

(a) Possess, purchase, or acquire a firearm to which this section applies without holding a firearm certificate in force at the time, or otherwise than as authorised by such a certificate.

(b) Possess, purchase, or acquire any ammunition to which this section applies without holding a firearm certificate in force at the time, or otherwise than as authorised by such a certificate, or in quantities in excess of those so authorised.

It is also an offence for a person to fail to comply with a condition subject to which a firearm certificate is held by them.

This section applies to every firearm except:

(a) A shotgun within the meaning of the Act, specifically a smooth-bore gun (not being an air gun) which:

• Has a barrel not less than 24 inches in length and does not have any barrel with a bore exceeding 2 inches in diameter;
• Either has no magazine or has a non-detachable magazine incapable of holding more than two cartridges; and
• Is not a revolver gun.

(b) An air weapon (i.e., an air rifle, air gun, or air pistol) not of a type declared by rules made by the Secretary of State to be specially dangerous.

A gun adapted to have a non-detachable magazine as mentioned above must bear a mark approved by the Secretary of State denoting the adaptation, certified in writing as having been carried out in an approved manner.

This section also applies to any ammunition for a firearm, except:

(a) Cartridges containing five or more shot, none of which exceeds 0.36 inch in diameter; (b) Ammunition for an air gun, air rifle, or air pistol; and (c) Blank cartridges not more than one inch in diameter measured immediately in front of the rim or cannelure of the base of the cartridge

References

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8521/

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1920/43/pdfs/ukpga_19200043_en.pdf

National Crime Agency UK Firearm Legislation

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/firearms-licensing-police-guidance