Policing Minister (Dame ): The Government is today
publishing its response to the public consultation that was
undertaken by the previous Government on a proposal to remove the
firearms accessory known as a sound moderator from firearms
licensing controls. The consultation ran between 21 February to 2
April 2024.
A sound moderator can be attached to a rifle barrel to reduce the
sound and flash when the rifle is fired. It reduces the sound of
the shot by around three quarters and accordingly these
accessories are used to protect shooters' hearing, to reduce the
disturbance to others in the vicinity of shoots and to stop
shooters being temporarily blinded by the muzzle flash of a shot.
They are entirely inert objects containing no moving parts and do
not of themselves create a risk to public safety. They are,
however, currently defined as a firearm in the Firearms Act 1968
and therefore they are subject to the requirement to be licensed
by the police.
The Government has decided to remove sound moderators from the
requirement to be licensed, and that by doing so, it will not
create any public safety risk nor impact in any way on the
strength of our existing firearms controls. We do, however, see
merit in making it a requirement for a person to be in possession
of a valid firearms certificate, issued by the police, in order
to lawfully possess a sound moderator. This will ensure that
these accessories are only held lawfully by those with a
legitimate purpose.
The public consultation also sought views on whether it would be
appropriate to use a Legislative Reform Order, made under section
1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, if it were
decided to deregulate sound moderators. Having given careful
consideration to this, the Government's view is that it would not
be appropriate to use such an Order, given that this will require
a change to the legal definition of a firearm set out in the
Firearms Act 1968. The Government is therefore of the view that
this change should be made through primary legislation, and we
will therefore seek to make this change when Parliamentary time
allows.
A copy of the government response will be placed in the Libraries
of both Houses and published on gov.uk.
