Firearms in United Kingdom

The Firearms Act 1968 created a number of offences:

• Possession of a firearm/ dangerous air weapon without a certificate (Section 1)
• Possession of a shotgun without a certificate (Section 2)
• Dealing in firearms without registration (Section 3)
• Shortening or converting a firearm (Section 4)
• Possession of a prohibited weapon (Section 5)
• Possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life (Section 16)
• Possession of a firearm/ imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence (Section 16 A)
• Using a firearm to resist arrest (Section 17(1))
• Carrying a firearm/ imitation firearm with criminal intent (Section 18)
• Carrying a firearm/ air weapon in a public place (Section 19)
• Possession on a firearm by a convicted person (Section 21)

Firearms Policy

Firearms legislation limits the age of those persons able to possess a firearm, for example no one under 14 years of age can acquire or use any firearm or ammunition unless as a member of a recognised club, or when in a shooting gallery using miniature rifles or air weapons.

‘Sawn-off’ shotguns are section 1 firearms, and possession therefore requires a firearms certificate and not a shotgun certificate. This distinction is important, as somebody of ‘good character’ can possess a shotgun certificate, whilst a firearms certificate is only given where strict criteria have been met. The Firearms Amendment Act 1988 section 6 makes it an offence to shorten the barrel of a shotgun to less than 60 cm (Mason 2001).

Imitation firearms

Imitation firearms having the appearance of a section 1 firearm are also covered by these prohibitions by virtue of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 S. 37 (which amends S. 19 Firearms Act 1968). This Act creates an offence ‘to carry an imitation firearm in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse’.

An ‘imitation firearm’ is defined in the 1968 Act S. 57 (4) as ‘covers anything that has the appearance of a firearm whether or not it is capable of discharging a shot or bullet’.

Interestingly, fingers held in shape of a gun under a jacket held not to be an imitation firearm (R V Bentham).

Resources

See Also

• Offensive weapon
• Repeat offender
• Wound
• Shotgun Wound
• Gun Law
• Forgery
• Offences
• Fraud

References

• Antisocial Behaviour Act 2003 C. 38
• Crown Prosecution Service (2003), ‘Firearms – Code for Crown Prosecutors’, April 2003
• Firearms Act 1968 C. 27
• Firearms Amendment Act 1988
• Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 C. 5
• Flack V Baldry (1988) 1 ALL ER 412
• R V Bentham (2005) UKHL 18, (2005) 2 ALL ER 65

Firearms Entries in the UK Encyclopedia of Law

• Firearms in the Encyclopedia of Britain
• Firearms in the Osborn’s Concise Law Dictionary
• Firearms in the Halsbury’s Laws of England
• Firearms in the Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary of Words and Phrases
• Firearms in the Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law
• Firearms in the New Oxford Companion to Law
• Firearms in the Words and Phrases Legally Defined
• Firearms in the Oxford Dictionary of Law

Further Reading

• Home Office (1997), ‘Firearms: Changes in the Law’, Guidance leaflet on the Firearms (Amendment Act 1997), July 1997
• Home Office Statistics (2005), ‘Firearm Certificates – England and Wales 2003 and 2004’, Sept 2005
• Home Office (2002), Firearms Law – Guidance to the police, The Stationary Office, London
  Miller T.R., Cohen M.A. (1997), ‘Costs of gunshot and cut/ stab wounds in the US, with some Canadian comparisons’, Accident Analysis and Prevention 29(3):329-341
• Patterson R.N. (2003), ‘The nation with a gun to its head’, The Times 18th October 2003 p.4
• Tendler S. (2003), ‘Guns in Britain’, The Times 18th October 2003 p.4
• Mason J.K. (2001), ‘Forensic Medicine for Lawyers’, Butterworths