Firearms and Ballistics - UK Firearms Legislation

Aims

• Review the history of firearms legislation in the UK
• Introduce the current controlling legislation
• Define the main legal (and illegal) classes of firearm
• Describe the legal restrictions on possession
• Appreciate the evolution of firearms restrictions in other related UK legislative acts

The 1903 Pistols Act

• First legislation to restrict firearm sales and ownership.
• Applied only to pistols with barrels not exceeding 9” (230 mm).
• Made it illegal to sell/rent a pistol without a gun or game license.

The 1920 Firearms Act

• First legislation to place a real restriction on the possession of firearms.
• Required a firearm certificate to purchase or own a firearm/ammunition.
• Certificates lasted three years, specifying the weapon and ammunition limits.
• Local police decided who could hold a certificate, requiring a good reason for needing it.

The 1937 Firearms Act

• Amended and updated the 1920 Act which included:
  • Raising the minimum age for buying a firearm or airgun to 17.
  • Brought smooth-bore weapons with barrels of less than 20” (510 mm) into the legislation.
  • Required gun dealers to be licensed.
  • Chief Constables could add conditions to firearm certificates.
  • Self-defense was no longer appropriate grounds to possess a firearm.
  • Banned private ownership of fully automatic weapons.

The 1968 Firearms Act

• Unified existing firearms legislation.
• Created 3 main firearm classification groups:
  • Section 1: Firearms
  • Section 2: Shotguns
  • Section 5: Prohibited weapons
• Air weapons are largely not included unless considered "specially dangerous".

Conditions of Firearm Ownership

• Applicants must show a 'good reason' for possessing the weapon or ammunition like:
  • Member of gun club
  • Sporting pursuits (within reason)
  • Land management
  • Professional/work requirements
• Medical checks are being introduced before application/renewal of certificates.
• Firearms should be stored in a secure gun cabinet, with ammunition stored separately.
• Permanent firearm possession ban for imprisonment of three years or more.
• Five-year ban for imprisonment of three months to three years.

Definition of a “Firearm” (S57)

• A lethal barrelled weapon.
• A barrelled weapon from which a missile with kinetic energy of more than one joule at the muzzle can be discharged.
• A prohibited weapon.
• A relevant component part of a lethal barrelled weapon or prohibited weapon (barrel, chamber, cylinder, frame, receiver, breech block, bolt).
• An accessory designed to diminish noise or flash.

Definition of “Ammunition” (S57)

• Includes grenades, bombs, and like missiles, whether for firearm use or not, and also includes prohibited ammunition.
• Does not include ingredients and components, only assembled ammunition.
• Exceptions: missiles for ammunition prohibited under Section 5 (expanding and armor-piercing bullets).

Section 1 – Requires a Firearm Certificate

• Offense to possess, purchase, or acquire a firearm without a firearm certificate.
• Applies to every firearm except:
  • A shotgun
  • An air weapon (unless 'specially dangerous')
• Applies to any (non-prohibited) ammunition for a firearm, except:
  • Cartridges containing five or more shot, none of which exceeds 0.36 inches in diameter
  • Ammunition for an air gun, air rifle or air pistol
  • Blank cartridges not more than one inch in diameter measured immediately in front of the rim or cannelure of the base of the cartridge

Section 1 – Interpretation

• Covers mostly bolt-action rifles and other 'single shot' mechanisms.
• Barrel longer than 30 cm and overall firearm length longer than 60 cm.
• Muzzle-loaded guns do not have to adhere to the above size rules.
• Includes 0.22” (or 5.5 mm) caliber rim-fire rifles, where semi-automatic and pump action mechanisms are permitted with no magazine limit.
• Smooth-bore revolver guns chambered for 9 mm rim-fire or designed to be muzzle-loaded.

Section 2 – Shotguns

• 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
  • Is not a revolver gun.

Section 2 – Interpretation

• Firearms will typically be traditional single or double-barrelled.
• Have a box-lock mechanism.
• A firearm with a larger magazine capacity could then be classed as a Section 1 unless it hits any of the Section 5 criteria.
• Solid slug shotgun rounds and cartridges containing less than 5 shot (being greater than 0.36 inches in diameter) are classed as Section 1.
• All other standard shotgun ammunition is unclassified.

Section 5 – Prohibited Weapons

• Weapons that cannot be owned by the general public.
• Includes military and police hardware (automatic weapons, handguns, anti-tank rockets).
• Semi-automatic weapons (except those chambered in 0.22” rim-fire).
• Any firearm disguised to look like another object.
• Prohibited ammunition (armor-piercing, incendiary, explosive rounds, expanding ammunition for pistols).
• Weapons for which there can be NO legitimate “good reason” to possess.

Section 5 – Weapons Subject to General Prohibition

• Any firearm designed so that two or more missiles can be successively discharged without repeated pressure on the trigger.
• Any self-loading or pump-action rifled gun other than one which is chambered for .22” rim-fire cartridges;
• Any firearm which either has a barrel less than 30 centimeters in length or is less than 60 centimeters in length overall, other than an air weapon, muzzle-loading gun or a firearm designed as signalling apparatus
• Any self-loading or pump-action smooth-bore gun which is not an air weapon or chambered for .22” rim-fire cartridges and either has a barrel less than 24 inches in length or is less than 40 inches in length overall
• Any smooth-bore revolver gun other than one which is chambered for 9mm rim-fire cartridges or a muzzle-loading gun
• Any rocket launcher, or any mortar, for projecting a stabilised missile, other than a launcher or mortar designed for line-throwing or pyrotechnic purposes or as signalling apparatus
• Any air rifle, air gun or air pistol which uses, or is designed or adapted for use with, a self-contained gas cartridge system.
• Any rifle with a chamber from which empty cartridge cases are extracted using (i) energy from propellant gas, or (ii) energy imparted to a spring or other energy storage device by propellant gas, other than a rifle which is chambered for .22” rim-fire cartridges
• Any weapon of whatever description designed or adapted for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other thing
• Any device (commonly known as a bump stock) which is designed or adapted so that (i) it is capable of forming part of or being added to a self-loading lethal barrelled weapon, and (ii) if it forms part of or is added to such a weapon, it increases the rate of fire of the weapon by using the recoil from the weapon to generate repeated pressure on the trigger
• Any cartridge with a bullet designed to explode on or immediately before impact, any ammunition containing or designed or adapted to contain any such noxious thing and, if capable of being used with a firearm of any description, any grenade, bomb (or other like missile), or rocket or shell designed to explode as aforesaid
• Any firearm which is disguised as another object
• Any rocket or ammunition not falling within previous paragraphs which consists in or incorporates a missile designed to explode on or immediately before impact and is for military use
• Any launcher or other projecting apparatus not falling within previous paragraphs which is designed to be used with any rocket or ammunition within previous paragraphs above or with ammunition which would fall within those paragraphs
• Any ammunition for military use which consists in or incorporates a missile designed so that a substance contained in the missile will ignite on or immediately before impact.
• Any ammunition for military use which consists in or incorporates a missile designed, on account of its having a jacket and hard-core, to penetrate armour plating, armour screening or body armour
• Any ammunition which is designed to be used with a pistol and incorporates a missile designed or adapted to expand on impact

Special Exemptions from Sections 1 to 5

• Police permit to use firearms, issued by chief police officer for the area.
• Authorized dealing with firearms
• Registered firearms dealers or similar, who may sell, buy, fix, test, maintain and prove firearms for the purpose of business (need Section 5 authority from the Home Office to have prohibited firearms).
• Registered ballistics experts/practitioners that need to use firearms as part of any work or consultancy as part of their business
• Carriers, auctioneers, etc.
• A person carrying on the business of an auctioneer, carrier or warehouseman, or a servant of such a person, may, without holding a certificate, have in his possession a firearm or ammunition in the ordinary course of that business.
• Slaughter of animals
• A firearms certificate if not needed for this purpose if the person holds a certificate of competence or licence to kill animals under the ‘Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulation
• Sports, athletics and other approved activities
• A person of or over the age of eighteen may, without holding a certificate, have a firearm in his possession at an athletic meeting for the purpose of starting races at that meeting.
• You can fire at rifles club ranges/clay pigeon ranges without certification if using guns on offer.

Air Weapons

• May have spring, pre-charged pneumatic (PCP), or CO2 bulb powered mechanisms.
• Air weapons deemed 'specially dangerous' have a muzzle energy in excess of:
  • Air pistol: 6 ft-lb (8.1 J) (Section 5 if above this)
  • Other air weapons: 12 ft-lb (16.3 J) (Section 1 if above this)
• Any air rifle, air gun or air pistol that uses, or is designed or adapted for use with, a self-contained gas cartridge system is banned.
• Anyone over 18 can purchase a non-dangerous air weapon and use it on private property without a certificate.
• 14-17 year olds: Cannot buy or own air weapons but can use them on private land (with permission) without supervision.
• Under 14-year-olds: Cannot buy or own air weapons but can use them on private land (with permission) and under supervision.

No Certificate Required For

• Air and gas-operated rifles with less than 12 ft-lb in muzzle energy (or 6 ft-lb for an air pistol).
• Deactivated firearms.
• Shotgun cartridges containing 5 or more shot, none of which exceed 0.36 inches in diameter.
• Display boards and decorative items.

Typical Muzzle Energy Values

• 0. 22” LR rim-fire: 100 – 200 ft-lb, 140 – 280J
• 0. 223” (5.56 x 45 mm): 1200 – 1600 ft-lb, 1600 – 2200J
• 0. 308” (7.62 x 51 mm): 2700 ft-lb, 3700J
• Shotgun: 750 – 3100 ft-lb, 1000 – 4300J

Deactivation

• Section 8 of the 1988 Firearms Amendment Act: A firearm is deactivated if:
  • It is incapable of discharging any shot, bullet or other missile
  • Has ceased to be a firearm within the meaning of the 1968 Firearm Act
  • Bears a mark and is certified in writing by an approved person
• 1989 guidelines were replaced in 1995, making processes stricter; pre-1995 deactivations remain legal.

Summary of Acts

• Guns controlled by foundation legislation: 1968 Firearms Act (as amended).
• Know your definitions of sections 1, 2 and 5!
• Powers to prohibit firearms in a public place extended by: Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003
• Realistic imitation firearms governed by: Violent Crime Reduction Bill 2006
• Firearms law only works for the law-abiding!