Minister of State for Crime and Policing (): The Government has today published its response
to the consultation held on firearms safety, which sought views
on a number of measures responding to issues raised during the
passage of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 through Parliament. The
consultation contained proposals for how to mitigate the risks to
public safety raised by these issues. The consultation closed on
16 February 2021 and more than 12,000 responses were received.
Our firearms laws are some of the toughest in the world and
ensuring public safety through effective firearms control is a
priority for the Government. Having carefully considered the
responses received to the consultation, we have decided to
introduce a range of measures to strengthen the controls.
The Government will:
-
Strengthen security requirements to
mitigate the risk of theft of High Muzzle
Energy rifles by requiring enhanced security for the
secure storage and transportation of these particularly
powerful firearms. This measure will be implemented by means of
an order made under section 53 of the Firearms Act 1968;
-
Help safeguard young people against the misuse of air
weapons by legislating to clarify the offence of
failing to take ‘reasonable precautions’ to prevent minors from
having air weapons so that whenever under-18s are on the
premises, ‘reasonable precautions’ must include locking the air
weapon out of sight when not in use and storing the ammunition
separately. This change will be implemented by means of an
order under section 53 of the Firearms Act 1968. We will also
work with the airgun industry to ensure that home security
devices are supplied with all new air weapons, and that
retailers explain the importance of secure handling and storage
to purchasers of new air weapons at the point of sale;
-
Tighten the control of miniature rifle ranges
by requiring operators to obtain a firearm certificate and
limiting such ranges to the use of .22 rimfire weapons. Primary
legislation to implement these changes will be brought forward
when parliamentary time allows; and
-
Tackle the unlawful manufacture of ammunition
by introducing a new offence of possessing component parts with
intent to assemble unauthorised quantities of complete
ammunition. Primary legislation to implement this new offence
will be brought forward when parliamentary time allows.
The Government also gave very careful consideration to the views
put forward in relation to the proposal to remove the exception
that permits unsupervised possession of air weapons by under 18s
on private land with the occupier’s consent. This proposal was
opposed by a majority of respondents and, on balance, the
Government has decided not to proceed with it at this time.
However, we will keep the matter under careful review with the
possibility that further action could be taken in future.
On 20 June 2022, a Firearms Bill was put forward in the House of
Commons as a presentation Bill. It was ordered that the Bill
should be drafted and ready for Second Reading in March 2023.
A copy of the Government’s response to the firearms safety
consultation can be found HERE
