Jump to content

Debate on airguns laws.


Rimfireboy
 Share

Recommended Posts

Debate today, looks like they might be pushing for airguns to be locked up?

what debate ??? and who might be pushing ????

 

mine are all locked up anyway in cabinets so does not affect myself, I only lock them up for my own piece of mind,

 

but best to be safe than sorry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Westminster Hall debate, BASC had briefed the MPs and minister's, we were mentioned in the debate, and had one of our political officers there too,unlikely that there will be any further restrictions, we are on it!

 

It was also discussed live on TV yesterday morning, and a member of the BASC firearms team was in the TV studio speaking up for arguments

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Think this has been the law for a couple of years now

Only law that I know of is to ensure that under 18 year olds do not have unsupervised access to air guns. This can be achieved using cabinets, trigger locks, cables or merely keeping them in a cupboard out of the way.

 

If I am wrong someone can put me right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only law that I know of is to ensure that under 18 year olds do not have unsupervised access to air guns. This can be achieved using cabinets, trigger locks, cables or merely keeping them in a cupboard out of the way.

 

If I am wrong someone can put me right.

Yeah. this is the case. It's a ridiculous grey area that, in my opinion, needs to be tightened up. I think the exact wording is that the owner must take 'reasonable precautions' in order to prevent the gun falling into unauthorised hands. The problem is it doesn't define what those might be, although it does give suggestions.

 

I don't have any other type of gun, but it's still kept in an approved cabinet. Why wouldn't you? it takes all the worry out of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah. this is the case. It's a ridiculous grey area that, in my opinion, needs to be tightened up. I think the exact wording is that the owner must take 'reasonable precautions' in order to prevent the gun falling into unauthorised hands. The problem is it doesn't define what those might be, although it does give suggestions.

 

I don't have any other type of gun, but it's still kept in an approved cabinet. Why wouldn't you? it takes all the worry out of it.

I,m the same chris, I have 5 cabinets full of bloody air rifles and they are locked away in the cabinets and the door to my gunroom is also locked so prying eyes cannot touchor see even though no one goes to that part of my home,

 

funny how things have changed over the years as my father never owned a gun cabinet yet he had every rifle you can think of and all were stored on the floor of the loft with a little padlock on the door, the type of lock you got in a lucky bag, but as he always said, if someone is going to rob the house the last place they would think of going to is the loft,,

 

the police didn't mind either,, think it would be a different story now though :lol::lol: :lol: :lol: I think the police are more paranoid than the gun owners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the airgun law is ridiculous, if under 12ftlb there should be no restriction on how or where they are stored. What next a locked cutlery drawer or all tools must be in a locked cabinet and car keys what about them,cars are one big hunk of metal that can cause carnage. i bet anyone more people are killed by knives than are shot and killed by air weapons each year.

Edited by figgy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only law that I know of is to ensure that under 18 year olds do not have unsupervised access to air guns. This can be achieved using cabinets, trigger locks, cables or merely keeping them in a cupboard out of the way.

 

If I am wrong someone can put me right.

 

Surely keeping under 18s in a cupboard is a bit excessive. :)

 

I've never seen the point of locking an airgun away, unless you have kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Surely keeping under 18s in a cupboard is a bit excessive. :)

 

I've never seen the point of locking an airgun away, unless you have kids.

There are some forces that would look into prosecuting against you if your house was broken into and a crime was committed with a stolen gun if they felt you hadn't taken those reasonable precautions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are some forces that would look into prosecuting against you if your house was broken into and a crime was committed with a stolen gun if they felt you hadn't taken those reasonable precautions.

 

They could try. How could they prosecute you for not doing anything illegal? They'd be laughed out of court. It's not like a burglar couldn't go and buy a plinker for £30 if he wanted one.

 

The "reasonable precautions" to stop anyone gaining access to your gun is only a condition on SGC and FAC - which I adhere to. Reasonable precautions for an air rifle is just to stop under 18s gaining access. My airgun has never been locked away and 3 different FEOs have seen it.

 

If/when airguns are licensed, then the above might be the case.

Edited by walshie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

They could try. How could they prosecute you for not doing anything illegal? They'd be laughed out of court. It's not like a burglar couldn't go and buy a plinker for £30 if he wanted one.

 

The "reasonable precautions" to stop anyone gaining access to your gun is only a condition on SGC and FAC - which I adhere to. Reasonable precautions for an air rifle is just to stop under 18s gaining access. My airgun has never been locked away and 3 different FEOs have seen it.

 

If/when airguns are licensed, then the above might be the case.

The laws about 'reasonable precautions' are about sub-12 air rifles too -

'All air weapons are still classed as firearms and fall under the control of firearms legislation. As an air weapon user, you must make sure that you know the law and keep within it. If you don’t, you could find yourself in court facing penalties ranging from heavy fines right up to life imprisonment.'

 

'It is an offence for a person in possession of an air weapon to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent someone under the age of 18 from gaining unauthorised access to it. A defence is provided where a person can show that they had reasonable grounds for believing the other person to be aged 18 or over. The maximum penalty for someone convicted of this new offence is £1,000.'

(https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/117804/air-weapons-safety-leaflet.pdf)

 

So, if some punk kid under 18 breaks in to the owner's house and finds a gun that's just lying around, then they could still (in theory) seek to prove that the owner had committed an offence by not taking reasonable precautions. I grant you it's unlikely they'd be able to prove it, but even so, it's possible.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I said, I (me personally) I don't see the need to be paranoid about something like an airgun. If it makes you feel better doing it your way, then that's fine.

 

As far as the law goes, locking the door when I go out is me doing my part. Otherwise they wouldn't be discussing the possible need in the future to lock them away.

 

Until that is law, I won't. :good:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, if some punk kid under 18 breaks in to the owner's house and finds a gun that's just lying around, then they could still (in theory) seek to prove that the owner had committed an offence by not taking reasonable precautions. I grant you it's unlikely they'd be able to prove it, but even so, it's possible.

 

 

Surely if the house is secure when left reasonable precautions have been taken, in this scenario.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...