The law in GB relating to firearms is a five-tier system of control:
1) Unregulated guns - those not subject to any restriction, which includes toy guns,
replica guns, blank-firing only guns, antique guns (kept as a curio or ornament only) and
deactivated guns (although possession in a public place of most of these
requires a "reasonable excuse"). Imitation
firearms are however subject to an age limit of 18 for acquisition and
"realistic" imitation firearms are prohibited from importation, manufacture or
sale, although this prohibition does not extend to simple possession or transfer;
2) Firearms not requiring a licence - essentially pistols powered by compressed air or
carbon dioxide with a muzzle energy of 6 ft/lb or less or rifles powered by compressed
air or carbon dioxide with a muzzle energy of 12 ft/lb or less. These types of
firearms can only be possessed without supervision (by a person aged 21 or
older) by a person aged 18 or older (with certain limited exceptions for
sporting use, and for pest control by people aged 14 or older), or
acquired by a person aged 18 or older who is not prohibited from owning firearms.
There is a legal requirement to keep airguns out of easy
access by people under the age of 18. There are an estimated 4 million such guns in Great Britain.
(Note that an airsoft gun is considered an imitation, unless it is powerful
enough to cause lethal injury).
3) Firearms requiring a Shotgun Certificate - shotguns require such a certificate.
A shotgun is defined as any smoothbore barrelled firearm with a barrel length of at
least 24 inches, and which has no magazine or a non-detachable magazine incapable of
holding more than two cartridges, and is not a revolver gun and has no barrel with a
calibre of more than 2 inches.
Application for a Shotgun Certificate is made to the local Chief Officer of Police.
The police must be satisfied that no good reason exists for refusing the grant of a
certificate, and that the applicant is not a person prohibited from possessing firearms
(generally, a person of intemperate habits or unsound mind, or a person who has been
imprisoned for more than three months in the last five years or who has ever been
imprisoned for more than three years).
The police will inspect the applicant's storage to make sure that it is secure.
Certificates are granted with certain prescribed conditions, the main one being that the
guns to which they relate must be kept securely.
A Shotgun Certificate entitles the holder to acquire as many shotguns as he pleases,
provided they are kept securely. The police must be notified of all transactions in
shotguns. Shotgun cartridges, other than slug ammunition and very large shot (which
require an FAC), can be acquired with a Shotgun Certificate, though possession is
unregulated.
A Shotgun Certificate is valid for five years and the application fee is £50 (about
US$75). Applications must be countersigned by a person of "good standing"
and accompanied by four photographs of the applicant.
There are currently about 625,000 Shotgun Certificates on issue in Great Britain.
4) Firearms requiring a Firearm Certificate (FAC) - All remaining types of firearm
require an FAC, though many also require the authority of the Secretary of State (see
below). There are certain exemptions from the FAC requirement, such as for use of
a club gun by a member of a firearms club, or use of a miniature rifle on a miniature rifle
range.
Application for a FAC is made to the local Chief Officer of Police. An applicant
must show "good reason" for each firearm he wishes to possess. Generally
accepted good reasons include: target shooting, pest control, deer stalking and
collecting. Self-defence or personal protection is not considered a good reason in
Great Britain.
An applicant for an FAC for target shooting must be a member of a firearms club
approved by the Home Office, and have completed a 3-month probation. This club is
called the "primary club" and is specified on the FAC. Applications for
other reasons must generally be supported by evidence of the stated "good
reason". Application is made on Form 101.
Applicants must nominate two referees to
support their application. In the case of a renewal of an FAC held for the purpose
of target shooting, one referee must be an official of the primary club.
Before an FAC is granted, the police will inspect the applicant's security to make sure
it is secure. Usually, the police require separate lockable safes for the guns and
ammunition, securely affixed to the residence of the applicant.
Unlike a Shotgun Certificate, ammunition must also be authorised by the FAC, and
maximum permitted quantities for acquisition and possession are stated on the FAC
(handloading is legal in GB - ammunition components are unregulated,
except for primers which require either a shotgun certificate or FAC to acquire).
A Firearm Certificate is valid for five years and the application fee is £50 (about
US$75). Renewals are £40. Applicants must be at least 14 years of age
to apply, although under-18s must have parental consent. People under the
age of 18 cannot acquire firearms other than as a gift.
If the holder wishes to dispose of or acquire firearms to which his certificate
relates, the FAC must be varied by the police. A fee is payable when the FAC holder
wishes to vary his certificate to acquire more firearms than his FAC currently
allows. The variation fee is £26.
There are currently about 165,000 FACs on issue in Great Britain.
5) Prohibited weapons - prohibited weapons additionally require the authority of the
Secretary of State as well as an FAC or registered firearm dealer's certificate (RFD).
Prohibited weapons include:
i) "Small firearms" - any firearm with an overall length of less than 60cm or
a barrel length of less than 30cm excluding any movable stock and not including
muzzle-loading guns or flare guns;
ii) Any firearm or ammunition which expels a noxious substance (e.g. gas or
pepper spray) or "other
thing" (such as a stun gun or Taser);
iii) Any self-loading or pump-action rifled gun other than one chambered for .22
rimfire cartridges;
iv) Armour-piercing, incendiary and "expanding" ammunition, although
collectors are exempt and there are other exemptions to the prohibition on expanding
ammunition, such as for pest control use and deer stalking (but not target shooting);
v) Machineguns, rocket or grenade launchers, mortars, exploding ammunition etc.;
vi) Any pump-action or self-loading smoothbore gun with an overall length less than 40
inches or a barrel length of less than 24 inches, excluding any movable stock and any
smoothbore revolver gun except those loaded from the muzzle end or chambered for 9mm
rimfire cartridges;
vii) Air guns that use self-enclosed air cartridges (this provision contains
a limited grandfathering clause for people who owned them prior to the
prohibition in 2003, that allows only possession to continue).
There are about 400 authorities for prohibited weapons on issue in GB - most relate to
RFDs for the purpose of dealing in them, principally to people who hold one of
the exemptions mentioned below (there are only four FACs on issue with
explicit prohibited weapons authority).
There are several statutory exemptions to the ban on "small firearms" -
including war trophies acquired prior to 1946; slaughtering instruments; firearms for use
for humane destruction of animals; firearms for use by race starters; firearms for
veterinary use; shot pistols for pest control in .410" or 9mm rimfire; firearms
collectors provided the guns were made prior to 1919 and are not in a
commonly available calibre; and
firearms of historic importance (due to their rarity, use in an historic event, aesthetic
qualities etc.) which must be kept at a "designated site", such as Bisley
National Shooting Centre, the Barbican Armoury in Durham, or the Wednesbury
Marksmen gun club.
TOP
Regulation of firearms in modern times in GB began with the Gun Licence Act of 1870,
which was essentially a simple excise tax. This law required a person who wished to
carry a firearm "outside the curtilage of his dwelling house" to purchase a
licence from the Post Office. Licenses were valid for one year.
In 1903, Parliament enacted the Pistols Act, which required a person to have a valid
Gun Licence to acquire a firearm with a barrel less than 9 inches in length.
During the Great War, severe controls were enacted under the Defence of the Realm Act,
essentially restricting sales to those going overseas.
After the war, the Government fearing a civil revolt as in Russia or as had
happened in Ireland, commissioned a report that
recommended a severe system of licensing for firearms.
This led to the Firearms Act 1920 which required a firearm certificate from the local
police for the purchase and possession of rifles and pistols of all types. The law
was badly drafted, and was amended several times to include shotguns with barrels less
than 20 inches in length and to ban machineguns. These Acts were consolidated into
the Firearms Act 1937.
After WW2, on the recommendation of the Home Secretary, the police gradually stopped
the practice of issuing certificates for personal protection, eventually stopping
altogether in 1954 (although a court case in London that the
police lost obliged them to carry on renewing certificates already on issue for
this purpose - a handful were still on issue as late as 1997). However, many people still possessed shotguns for this purpose
which only required a licence under the 1870 Act.
In 1962, the law was tightened to impose stiffer sentences for firearms offences and to
impose tighter age limits on acquisition.
After the abolition of the death sentence, the Firearms Act 1965 was enacted which
increased the minimum legal length of shotgun barrels without a certificate to 24 inches.
This law also created more offences and tightened sentences.
Although the Government in 1966 had rejected calls for licensing of shotguns, the
murder of three police officers with pistols led to the introduction of shotgun
certification in the Criminal Justice Act 1967. The Firearms Acts 1937 - 1967 were
consolidated in the
Firearms Act 1968, the principal law still in effect today.
Calls for the tightening of the law were rejected in 1973, however, punitive increases
in licensing fees became the norm as did tighter and tighter interpretations of the law by
the police.
In 1981, a man fired a starting pistol near the Queen during the Trooping of the
Colours. This led to the
Firearms Act 1982, which classifies imitation firearms
which can be readily converted into working firearms as firearms.
In 1987, a man named Michael Ryan committed mass murder in Hungerford using a 9mm
pistol and two semi-automatic rifles. This led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act
1988, which prohibited all centrefire semi-automatic and pump-action rifles and
carbines, military weapons such as rocket launchers and semi-automatic and pump-action
shotguns with short barrels or a short overall length.
In addition, the law made substantial changes to the licensing regime for shotguns,
requiring them to be registered on certificates in a similar way to firearms held on
firearm certificates, requiring them also to be kept locked up as with other firearms, and
restricting pump-action and semi-auto shotguns to a maximum magazine capacity of two
rounds, unless they were held with a firearm certificate. Another change was that
"downconverted" firearms reverted to their original classification (such as
rifles which had been converted into shotguns by lengthening and smoothboring the barrel).
Following an incident at a gun club in 1990 when a temporary member shot dead the range
officer and stole a pistol which he used in further crimes, the Home Office stiffened
regulations made under the 1988 Act which required gun clubs to limits their guest days to
only four per year; in addition, a probationary period of at least six months was
introduced before a gun club member could apply for an FAC. These regulations were
relaxed in 1995 to allow one guest day per month and a three month probationary period.
In 1992, the European Firearms Directive imposed certain legal restrictions on firearms
possession in the EU, and this led to the Firearms Acts (Amendment) Regulations
1992,
which prohibited expanding pistol ammunition, as well as armour-piercing,
incendiary and other military munitions, grenade launchers and firearms disguised as other objects. These
regulations also instituted a passport system for firearms, called the European Firearms
Pass. In addition, the acquisition of Category B firearms (handguns, semi-auto long
guns) had to be authorised by both the State where the firearm was acquired and the State
where the person acquiring the firearm resided. This is called an Article 7
authority.
Also in 1992, the validity of certificates was extended from three years to five years
by the Firearms (Amendment) Act
1992.
In 1994, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994 increased penalties for firearms offences
and created new offences for threatening people with firearms.
In 1996, Thomas Hamilton walked into Dunblane Primary School armed with two 9mm pistols
and two .357 revolvers. He shot dead 16 children, injured 15, killed their teacher
and himself. This atrocity led to another knee-jerk law, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997.
This law banned handguns, other than .22s kept at licensed clubs, air pistols and
muzzle-loading guns, and also expanded the ban on expanding ammunition to include rifle
ammunition. The law also banned the delivery of firearms by mail to certificate
holders, and made various changes to the reporting requirements for transactions in
firearms.
The Labour Party came to power in May of 1997, and enacted the Firearms (Amendment)(No. 2) Act
1997, which repealed the exemption for .22s kept at pistol clubs, effectively banning
all modern cartridge handguns in Great Britain with limited exemptions for collectors and
other limited uses.
Despite the bans, armed crime continued to rise after these laws were
enacted, and concern about increasing levels of armed crime, especially after
the murder of two teenage girls who were machine-gunned to death led to the
Criminal Justice Act 2003, which introduced a mandatory five-year minimum
sentence for possession of a prohibited firearm upon indictment; and the Anti-social
Behaviour Act 2003, which raised the minimum age limit for possession of an
airgun from 14 to 17 years; prohibited airguns that use self-enclosed air
cartridges (such as those made by Brocock); and also expanded the requirement to
have "lawful authority or reasonable excuse" to cover possessing an
imitation firearm or an unloaded air weapon in a public place. In
addition, section 287 et seq. of the Criminal
Justice Act 2003 requires prosecutions for possession of prohibited firearms
to be made only by indictment and introduces a mandatory minimum five-year
sentence for possession of most types of prohibited firearms.
Despite the two Acts in 2003, the Labour Govt. pressed on
with further gun laws in the shape of part 2 of the
Violent
Crime Reduction Act 2006, which amended some of the provisions only recently
enacted by the 2003 Acts.
The changes made by the 2006 Act were aimed principally at
"realistic imitation firearms", such as airsoft guns and blank-firing guns that
had a realistic appearance (deactivated firearms are not included), this was
based on the belief that these guns were becoming more widely used in armed
crime, although this is a contested view. The law does not ban the
possession or transfer of these guns, although it does ban the import,
manufacture and sale of them. The law also allows the Secretary of State
(acting on the advice of the Forensic Science Service) to specify by statutory instrument a manufacturing standard for
imitation blank-firing guns that do not look realistic, in order to make it as
hard as possible to market an imitation firearm that can be converted to fire
live ammunition, as well as a specification for other imitations so they don't
look realistic.
The law includes various defences against prosecution for
import, manufacture or sale of a realistic imitation firearm, mainly to do with
theatrical uses, museums, and re-enactments.
In addition, the law makes other varied changes to the law
on firearms, including a new offence of minding a firearm; expanding the
mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a prohibited weapon (introduced by
the Criminal Justice Act 2003) so that it
applies to various offences committed with them; requires dealers in air guns to
be registered firearm dealers (RFDs); raises the age limit for acquisition or
possession of an air gun from 17 to 18 (only recently raised to 17 by the
Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003); requires sales of air guns by businesses to be
face-to-face; introduces a requirement for a person to have a shotgun or firearm
certificate to acquire ammunition primers; introduces an age limit of 18 to
acquire an imitation firearm; introduces a broad offence of "firing an air
weapon beyond premises", an attempt to stop vandalism with air guns; and
increases the maximum penalty for possession of an imitation firearm in a public
place to 12 months.
The
Firearms (Amendment)
Regulations 2010 tinkered with the age limits for acquisition and possession
of firearms to comply with the revised
European Firearms Directive (note there are other pending changes). Essentially, the age limits
were raised to 18 for the purchase or hiring of firearms. Other
consequential amendments were made to the various exemptions from holding
certificates to clarify the age limit as 18.
Section 46 of the
Crime and
Security Act 2010 introduced a requirement that reasonable precautions must
be taken by the owner of an airgun to keep it out of reach of a person aged
under 18.
For more details, I suggest you read the Firearms
Rules 1998 and
Home Office Guidance to Police.
TOP
The Isle of Man has a four-tier system of control of guns:
1) Not regulated - essentially replica guns and toy guns
(note: there is no exemption for antiques.)
2) Firearms requiring a Regulated Weapon Certificate - air pistols with a muzzle energy
of 6 ft/lb or less, air rifles with a muzzle energy of 12 ft/lb or less, shotguns (the
same as defined in GB law) and crossbows with a draw weight of more than 1.4 kg require a
Regulated Weapon Certificate.
Application is made to the Chief Officer of Police, who shall grant a certificate to a
person unless the person is under 17 years old; is prohibited from possessing firearms; or
is for any reason considered to be a danger to the public.
Certificates are valid for ten years. A fee of £120
must be paid on application or
renewal. There is no requirement for registration of "regulated weapons",
however certificate holders are required to keep a list of weapons they own.
Certificate holders can acquire and possess as many regulated weapons as they please.
Conditions attached to the certificate require the holder to take reasonable
precautions to prevent their theft. A certificate is required to acquire or possess
ammunition for a regulated weapon.
3) Firearms requiring a Firearm Certificate (FAC) - all other firearms (including
antiques) require a firearm certificate. Application is made to the Chief Officer of
Police. As in GB, "good reason" must be shown for each firearm and
ammunition that the applicant wishes to possess.
Target practice and pest control are the two most common reasons given. There is
however no requirement for references on the Isle of Man, or membership of a firearms
club, though the police generally require some showing of membership to establish
"good reason" for target practice.
As in GB, an applicant must have secure storage for the firearms and ammunition.
Other licensing provisions (such as age limits) are also similar to GB, with
some minor differences.
Certificates are valid for three years, from the 1st of April of the
triennial period (computed from 1948). The application fee is £75, and the
fee for renewal or variation is £65.
4) Prohibited Weapons - these types of firearm additionally require the authority of
the Minister for Home Affairs as well as an FAC or registered firearms dealer certificate
(RFD).
It should be noted that the classification of prohibited weapon is not as broad as in
GB. "Downconverted" firearms are still legal on the Isle of Man, as are
handguns, burst-fire firearms (though the police generally attach a condition to FACs
prohibiting their possession) and self-loading carbines (but not rifles). In
addition, there is no statutory ban on any type of ammunition other than exploding
ammunition on the island. Other types of prohibited weapon as listed under GB above
are prohibited however.
TOP
Contrary to popular belief, the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom, though
the island has various treaties recognising many UK laws and
has a closer legal relationship than the other Crown Dependencies of Guernsey
and Jersey. However the island has its
own bicameral legislature, the Tynwald, and domestic law on the island varies in many
areas compared to that of the UK. The UK has, however, until recently
had a
considerable influence on the island's
firearm law.
Firearms regulation in modern times began with the Games Act 1882, similar to the Gun
Licence Act in the UK. This law among other things required the purchase of a Gun
Licence at the Post Office to carry a firearm outside of a home. This law remained
in effect on the Isle of Man in respect of shotguns until 1996!
As in Great Britain, the Defence of the Realm Act imposed severe restrictions on the
acquisition of firearms on the island, and the firearm certification system was introduced
with the Firearms Act 1921.
This law was amended various times in parallel with the law in Great Britain, and these
laws were consolidated in the
Firearms Act 1947 which is similar to the 1937 Act in Great
Britain. However, the 1947 Act is still the principal Act on the Isle of Man.
The 1947 Act was amended in parallel with the 1937 Act in Great Britain, with the 1962
and 1965 Acts being enacted in 1968 on the Isle of Man. However, at this point the
regulation of firearms diverged from Great Britain, as shotgun licensing was not
introduced at this time and there was no consolidating Act as in Great Britain.
In 1994, the Isle of Man enacted their own
unique law, the
Shot Guns, Air Weapons and Cross-Bows Act 1994 which introduced Regulated
Weapon Certificates for previously unregulated guns. This Act came into force at the
start of 1996. It appears to have been based on the shotgun certification system
prior to the 1988 Act in Great Britain.
In 1996, Section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act 1996 expanded the weapons prohibited by
the 1947 Act to prohibit most (but not all) of the weapons prohibited by the 1988 Act in
Great Britain. However, the other changes made by the 1988 Act were not adopted.
This Act came into force at the start of 1997. Section 15 of the Schedule
also expanded the 1994 Act to make the Act more fully cover ammunition for regulated
weapons.
In 2001, Section 20 of the Criminal
Justice Act 2001 redefined the definition of "air weapon" to
include guns powered by gases other than air, thereby requiring a Regulated
Weapon Certificate to possess or acquire one instead of a firearm certificate.
In 2007, Section 3 of the
Criminal
Justice, Police Courts Act 2007 implemented the provisions of the British
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994 and certain provisions of the Anti-Social
Behaviour Act 2003, in relation to expansion of offences for having firearms or
imitation firearms in a public place, trespassing with them, or threatening
people with them. The Act does not ban air guns using self-contained
cartridges as in the UK.
More information is available in this
Isle of Man Customs guidance.
TOP
Northern Ireland has a three tier system of control:
1) Unregulated guns - toy guns, replica guns, air guns with a muzzle energy
of one joule or less, deactivated firearms proof tested on or after 1st October
1995 and antique guns kept as a curiosity or
ornament. A person must however be 18 to acquire an
imitation firearm and "realistic imitation firearms" are prohibited from import,
manufacture or sale, although simple possession and transfer is not regulated.
2) Firearms requiring a firearm certificate (FAC) - all other firearms, including
shotguns, airguns with a muzzle energy of more than one joule, etc. all require a
firearm certificate in Northern Ireland. Magazines for use with firearms
are also subject to licensing control in Northern Ireland. In addition, the statutory exemptions for
minors supervised by adults, miniature rifle clubs and so on are more limited in Northern
Ireland.
Application is made to the Chief Officer of Police. As in GB, "good
reason" must be shown for each firearm and ammunition that the applicant wishes to
acquire and possess. An applicant must be at least 18 years of age.
The provisions relating to possession and use by a person under 18 are far more
restrictive than in GB, however. A person
under the age of 18 can only obtain a firearm certificate if they are at least 16 years of age
and the firearm to which it relates is a shotgun, air gun or .22 rifle used for
pest control or the protection of livestock, or the application is for a shotgun
or air gun used for sporting purposes. There is another exemption for
people aged under 18 who are using an air gun at a "recreational
facility", provided the air gun is of low power (6 ft/lb muzzle energy for
an air pistol, 12 ft/lb for an air rifle) and the person operating the facility
has a firearm certificate for the gun.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) will check the secure storage
proposed by an applicant
before granting a certificate. The PSNI tend to require more stringent storage
conditions than is the case in GB, requiring firearms to be kept disassembled in some
cases, with the parts stored in different locations, or in a secure armoury in
the case of centrefire rifles owned for target shooting.
A primary difference between the regulation of firearms in Northern Ireland and
elsewhere in the British Isles is that personal protection is accepted as a "good
reason" for the grant of a certificate, providing the applicant can show that they
are threatened by terrorist activities. Most FACs issued for the possession of
handguns are held for this purpose. At the end of 1996, 10,867 FACs were on issue in
Northern Ireland for the purpose of personal protection. Typically, an FAC issued
for this purpose authorises one pistol and 25 rounds of ammunition. A certificate
holder is authorised to carry the gun loaded and on their person.
Another primary difference between Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the
British Isles is that firearm certificates are issued with a condition requiring
the holder to only have the firearm(s) to which the certificate relates loaded
if they either have at least one year's experience with that type of firearm, or
else are being supervised by someone aged 21 years or older who has at least
three years experience with that type of firearm. The one year experience
requirement can be altered by the Chief Officer of Police and presumably is made
a lot shorter in the case of people applying for personal protection weapons.
FACs are valid for five years. Applications must be accompanied by two photographs of the applicant.
As in GB, there is a requirement for two referees (one of whom must be an
official of a firearms club if the applicant is a target shooter), as well as membership of a firearms
club (if the firearm is to be used for target shooting). The PSNI will expect an applicant for an FAC for target shooting to have completed
the required 12-month probationary period at a club. Firearm transfers
must be in person as well, as in GB.
There are approximately 90,000 FACs on issue in Northern Ireland.
3) Prohibited weapons - these require an FAC or a registered firearms dealer's
certificate as well as the authority of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The list of prohibited weapons is the same as for Great Britain, with the exception
that handguns and expanding ammunition are not prohibited (except expanding pistol
ammunition for self-defence).
Fees are the same as in GB, i.e. £50 for the grant of a certificate (or
renewal) and £26 for a variation. The main difference is that "one
for one" variations (i.e. the replacement of one firearm with another of
the same calibre and type) are subject to a fee of £10 in Northern Ireland,
however, as shotguns are subject to FAC control in Northern Ireland, firearm
dealers can perform "one for one" variations themselves in the case of
shotguns.
TOP
Ireland has had a series of laws to control arms throughout it's history, including at
the end of the 19th century the Peace Preservation Act which was periodically renewed.
This was a sweeping law which allowed the Lord Lieutenant to specify whole areas of
Ireland where the possession or carrying of arms required a permit, and allowed the police
to search without warrant homes for arms. This law was allowed to lapse in 1906, and
the provisions of the Pistols Act and Gun Licence Act did not extend to Ireland.
However, the Defence of the Realm Act enacted during the Great War did apply to Ireland,
and imposed the same harsh controls as in Great Britain.
The Firearms Act 1920 also applied to Ireland, introducing the firearm certification
system, however, the exemptions for low-power airguns, shotguns, miniature rifle clubs,
war trophies etc. did not extend to Ireland, giving the island extremely harsh gun laws.
This Act remained the principal Act, and was amended several times culminating in the
Firearms Act 1937. Due to the divergent interests after the partitioning of Ireland
in 1923, the Northern Ireland Assembly however enacted their own gun laws after this date,
in parallel with the changes in British law (which in the case of shotgun licensing
obviously were redundant in Northern Ireland). These laws were consolidated in the
Firearms (Northern Ireland) Act 1969.
Shortly thereafter however, the "troubles" broke out and emergency
legislation was enacted increasing the types of firearms offences and including various
categories of terrorist offences relating to firearms. Other changes, such as
ballistic testing of rifles and pistols, was also introduced to discourage terrorist use
of them (currently all firearms imported into Northern Ireland can be subject to ballistic testing by
the PSNI, although only handguns generally are). The appeals system was also changed, to require appeals to be heard by the
Secretary of State instead of before a court.
These changes were consolidated into the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order
1981.
The Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 extended the law to cover imitation firearms
which could be readily converted into working firearms.
The Firearms (Amendment)(Northern Ireland) Order 1989 expanded the types of prohibited
weapons in Northern Ireland in parallel with the Firearms (Amendment) Act
1988 in Great Britain, and made other minor changes to the law.
The Firearms
(Amendment)(Northern Ireland) Order 1992 authorised the Secretary of State
to extend the validity of firearm certificates.
Also in 1992, the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992
incorporated the provisions of the European Firearms Directive into Northern Irish law.
The provisions are identical to those in Great Britain.
The Firearms
(Amendment)(Northern Ireland) Order 1994 increased the types of offences
in parallel with the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1994 in Great Britain.
These provisions were consolidated into the Firearms
(Northern Ireland) Order 2004, which also introduced other legislative
changes, such as a requirement that new certificate holders must be supervised
in the use of their firearms; longer and mandatory sentences for certain
offences (such as illegal possession of a handgun); changes in the licensing,
transfer and other bureaucratic procedures to be more consistent with the
changes introduced by the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 in Great Britain;
applied controls to firearm magazines and deregulated certain deactivated
firearms and air guns with a muzzle energy of one joule or less; altered the
regime of controls and exemptions applied to people under the age of 18; allowed
firearm dealers to make "one for one" variations in respect of
shotguns; and introduced a new visitor's permit system for visitors from outside
the UK, which includes a system of approval letters for visitors from Great
Britain. The 2004 Order is now the principal piece of legislation
regarding firearms in Northern Ireland.
The Order was amended by the
Firearms
(Amendment)(Nothern Ireland) Order 2005. This Order amends the law in
line with the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 in Great Britain, by prohibiting
air guns that use self-contained cartridges (e.g. the Brocock revolvers) with a
grandfather provision for people who currently own them (despite the fact there
is no recorded instance of any crime being committed with one in Northern
Ireland). The Order also expands the definition of having a firearm or
imitation in a public place without reasonable excuse in line with the 2003 Act.
The Order was also amended by the
Violent Crime Reduction
Act 2006. Although patterns of armed crime tend to be different in
Northern Ireland, the Act implements the same prohibition on the import,
manufacture and sale of "realistic imitation firearms" as in Great Britain.
In addition it also extends the mandatory minimum penalty for possession of
prohibited weapons to various offences committed with them; imposes an age limit
of 18 on the acquisition of an imitation firearm; and increases the maximum
penalty for possession of an imitation firearm in a public place to 12 months.
The Order was again amended by the
Firearms (Amendment)
Regulations 2010 to prohibit people under the age of 18 (who are able to
obtain a firearm certificate under one of the narrow exemptions for minors) from
being able to purchase firearms, as well as requiring written parental consent
for the acquisition of a firearm.
For more information, read the
Northern Ireland Office Guidance to Police.
TOP
The firearms legislation in Ireland is essentially a four-tier system of control:
1) Unregulated - toy guns, replica firearms
2) Subject to police permit - "defective" firearms, meaning firearms which
are inoperable for any reason, due to age, or damage, or through having been rendered
permanently inoperable. Application for a permit is made to the Garda Superintendent
for the area in which the applicant resides. The superintendent may attach any
conditions he feels necessary, relating to secure storage or otherwise, to any permit and
may at any time revoke the permit if he considers it necessary.
3) Firearms requiring a firearm certificate - all other firearms, including airguns and
also crossbows, require a firearm certificate for possession.
Application for a firearm certificate is made to the superintendent of the Garda in the
area in which the applicant resides. Applicants must be at least 16 years of age
(14 for a training certificate) and not be
prohibited by any statutory provision (i.e. unsound mind, criminal history, intemperate
habits) from possessing firearms. The applicant must also have a "good
reason" for requiring a firearm. The typical reasons accepted by the Garda are:
target shooting, (provided the applicant is a member of an authorised gun club), pest
control and other agricultural uses, and deer stalking.
There is also a substantial amount of supporting documentation required,
referees, proof of "good reason" etc., (I suggest reading the
application form.)
Certificates are valid for three years. Unlike the rest of the British Isles, firearm certificates relate only to one firearm -
a person wishing to possess more than one firearm must hold a firearm certificate for each
gun. Certificates are only subject to variation when the person disposes of a
firearm and wishes to acquire another immediately.
The certificate also authorises the possession and acquisition of ammunition, in the
quantities the applicant has shown "good reason" for. Although
handloading of ammunition is technically legal, obtaining an explosives licence
for the possession of primers and powder is exceptionally difficult, thus
handloading of ammunition is effectively banned.
Firearm certificates are subject to conditions, prescribed by the superintendent
or statute. He may add conditions he considers necessary, such as
restricting a rifle possessed for target shooting to be used on authorised
ranges, for example.
Firearms must be kept securely.
A fee of €80 is payable upon application for a firearm certificate
(€40 for a training certificate). Because certificates relate only
to one gun, the licensing fee costs make it difficult for most gun owners to own more than
a few guns.
4) Firearms requiring the authority of the Minister of Justice - Irish law only
expressly forbids a small number of firearms, essentially firearms which expel noxious
substances (which includes stun guns). However, the Minister of Justice has sweeping power to declare most
types of firearms "especially dangerous" and subject to a Dangerous Weapons
Order (such as machineguns). Firearms so classified, like prohibited weapons, require the permission of
the Minister of Justice as well as a firearm certificate to possess.
However, the principle method of prohibiting firearms was a "policy"
entered into between the Garda and the Ministry of Justice. All firearms
were
prohibited, with the exception of shotguns with a barrel length of at
least 24 inches, any .22 rimfire rifle, or any bolt-action rifle with a calibre of .277 inches or
less (the policy states .270, however this has been interpreted to include .270
Winchester, which has a diameter of .277 inches), excluding "military
weapons" (which essentially means anything chambered in 5.56mm or .223
Remington). This policy was recently scrapped due to legal pressure, and
it became clear such a policy had no legal standing.
Further important information is contained in
this editorial which explains new policies in
relation to the licensing of many types of firearm in the Republic and also the
list of what types of firearm are actually legal.
The Minister will only give permission to possess prohibited firearms in very
rare cases, such as to military contractors for example.
For more information, I strongly suggest you visit the Irish
Department of Justice website, which contains more details.
(Note: I have basically given up trying to summarise Irish
firearm law, there are too many amendments to the Firearms Act 1925 and various
parts of it are constantly under challenge in court - it is essentially
incomprehensible at this point. If you want to try,
read this summary. Also the
Garda guidelines.)
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As a sometimes rebellious province of the British Empire, Ireland had been subject to
various weapon laws throughout its history, which are detailed to some degree under the
entry for Northern Ireland.
After the partition of Ireland, the Oireachtas (Irish legislature) enacted the
Firearms (Temporary
Provisions) Act 1924, which essentially continued the Firearms Act 1920. This was
followed by the Firearms (Temporary
Provisions)(Continuance) Act 1925.
All three Acts were repealed and replaced by the Firearms Act
1925, which is still the
principal piece of firearms legislation in the Republic. Although based on the
Firearms Act 1920, there were various changes, such as the deregulation of air guns.
However, it essentially was identical to the 1920 Act.
Unlike the UK, there were no correcting or amending provisions to the Act, and by the
early 1960s, it was abundantly clear that there were serious anomalies in the 1925 Act,
and also there was concern about political unrest which had simmered throughout Ireland
since the partition.
This resulted in the Firearms Act
1964, which heavily amended and added to the 1925
Act, to make it clearer and more consistent, and removed a wide variety of anomalies in
the law. These changes allowed target shooting in Ireland to grow in popularity, as
people were able to now use firearms without a certificate while a member of a club, and
also at fairgrounds and other places which had been made subject to certificate control in
1920.
More worrisome however was the extension of the law to cover airguns again, and even
more worrisome were Sections 4 through 6 of the Act, which enabled the Minister of Justice
to call in all legally possessed firearms in any specified area in the "interests of
public safety". This was portrayed as an emergency procedure. An order
under Section 4 could only be stopped by a resolution of both Houses of the Oireachtas.
In the early 1970s, the political situation in Ireland turned violent, and in a largely
misguided attempt to prevent the Catholic minority in the North from acquiring firearms
from sympathisers in the South, the Oireachtas passed the Firearms Act
1971, which gave the Minister
of Justice the power to specify firearms which appeared to him to be "especially
dangerous" and not "sporting firearms". The Act provided that only
unrifled airguns, .22 calibre rifles and shotguns with a barrel length of 24 inches or
more were to be considered innately "sporting". The Garda then
entered into a policy in 1972 that they would not issue
a certificate for any other firearm without the permission of
the Minister, and another provision of the Act applied similar provisions to firearms
dealers.
A few months later in 1972, an order was made under Section 4 of the 1964 Act
requiring all firearms held in the Republic to be surrendered for safe-keeping to the
Garda.
Therefore, essentially all firearms, with the exception of .22 rifles and shotguns,
were prohibited in the Republic. The 1971 Act and the attendant policy
constitutes without question the most
restrictive gun restrictions ever imposed in Europe, and likely the most restrictive gun law ever passed by a
democratically elected Government.
Eventually, the order under the 1964 Act was lifted, but only in respect of sporting
shotguns and .22 rifles. The minister later allowed the trade in air rifles to
resume. Pistols and other rifles and shotguns were effectively confiscated.
In 1990, in parallel with Section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 in Great Britain, the
Oireachtas passed the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act
1990, which prohibited a variety
of weapons, such as flick-knives and martial arts weapons. The Act also extended
firearm certificate controls to firearm silencers, stun guns and crossbows. Also
introduced was the requirement for a police permit to possess a "defective"
firearm.
In 1993, following the European Firearms Directive, the European Communities
(Acquisition and Possession of Weapons and Ammunition) Regulations 1993 were made under
the European Communities Act. These regulations make provision for European Firearm
Passes, Article 7 authorities, and prohibition of certain firearms and ammunition as in Great Britain.
The Ministry of Justice had promised shooters in Ireland that the onerous laws would be
reconsidered if the security situation in Ireland improved, and in 1994 during the IRA
cease-fire they kept their word - but only just. The Minister of Justice issued
a policy routinely allowing firearms dealers and certificate holders to possess rifles in
calibres up to .270 inches.
In 1998, the Irish courts ruled that the Minister of Justice could only grant
non-resident firearm certificates to people who met the same conditions as residents under
the Acts - that essentially made it impossible for certificates to be issued, as there is
no way the Minister can check the background of a person resident in another country.
This led to the Firearms (Temporary Provisions) Act
1998, which authorises the Minister
to issue a firearm certificate to anyone who holds a European Firearm Pass, or any other
licence or permit from their home country that the Minister feels is acceptable.
The Act was valid for one year, while the Ministry considered permanent amendments to the
Firearms Acts 1925 - 90. However, it was extended for a further year.
It was finally repealed and replaced by the Firearms
(Firearm Certificates for Non-Residents) Act 2000. This Act gave the
Minister for Justice the power to grant firearm certificates to non-residents,
and he may take the fact that an applicant holds a European Firearms Pass
if they are resident in another EU State, or holds a licence equivalent to a
firearm certificate if they reside outside the EU, as evidence of suitability.
However, this is not a requirement and the Minister may grant a certificate if
he is satisfied the applicant is a suitable person to hold one. After two
years, the power to grant certificates moved to the Garda Superintendent for the
area in which the non-resident intends to reside in while in Ireland, and applications
will then have to be made to the Garda. The Act also empowered the Minister
for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to grant game licenses to
non-residents for the "hunting and killing of animals".
In 2004, a legal challenge to the policy adopted in 1972 led to it being
withdrawn when it became clear it was legally indefensible as it had no force of
law. Consequently, firearm certificates are once again being granted for
the possession of pistols and rifles of any calibre, provided the applicant
shows: "good reason".
In reaction to the court ruling, the Oireachtas heavily
amended Ireland's firearm laws with the
Criminal Justice Act 2006, Part V of which makes a considerable number of
major changes. The most major change is the introduction of the concept of
a "restricted firearm", which requires an applicant to show an absolute need in
order to be able to possess one, instead of just "good reason".
Further information on restricted firearms and the re-introduction of a handgun
ban are contained in this editorial.
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"The 'Blue Army' almost unlimited
in its numbers and powers, will be the servile instruments of the executive; it will
continuously increase its encroachments on popular rights and the liberty of the
subject." - Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, 1831
