Latest Guidance from the Home Office

[Dekers]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearms-law-guidance-to-the-police-2012

[Bobba]

Thanks for this. Night time reading? Presumably the moderators will add this to the pinned section?

 

I was bemused / concerned by the legal jargon restrictions in chapter 14.50 but BASC advise that being allowed to keep the rabbits we shoot is a "reward" which allows us to be an authorised person.

[JonathanL]

The part I'm very pleased about is this part as it's something I have been saying for years;

 

 

4.3 The words ‘designed or adapted’ are important. Any bullet will deform on impact with a sufficiently hard surface, but only bullets, and ammunition containing bullets, which were designed or have been adapted to do so in a controlled manner are actually controlled by the legislation (see Chapter 3). If in doubt as to the design intention of a bullet, reference to the maker’s design specification should be made. Frangible bullets, do not fall under section 5(1A)(f) of the 1968 Act.

 

 

J.

[FarmerSim]

Thanks for posting that Dekers. Fascinating stuff.

[deaquire]

Really interesting - I had no idea landowners were obliged to kill rabbits.

[Bombadil]

Not sure about this. Frankly I thought the current guidance was if police were called due to domestic violence then you would have your cert removed/not granted. By the looks of things, it seems that your right to posess a firearm will be based purely on how the FEO feels on gut instinct. I can see the merits of this system, I think my FEO would do a good job of it. But I excpect to see a lot of regional injustices, bitter X-wives and imaginitive Antis.

[Scully]

Really interesting - I had no idea landowners were obliged to kill rabbits.

Explained this to a railway enthusiast who threatened one of our syndicate with legal action if he ever saw him shooting rabbits on an old dis-used railway banking in which hundreds of rabbits live but dine in the adjoining fields owned by our local landowner.When we informed our landowner he went to see the group who own the railway and told them in no uncertain terms what would happen if he didn't get the rabbits under control.Knowing him the two words most commonly used will have been **** and off! Sorted! .

[deaquire]

So basically, you could turn up to a field that is visibly lifting with rabbits and ask permission to shoot them. The landowner denies permission because he/she likes to see them running around in their field, so you report them and the police will take action to remedy the situation? You'd think the railway would support such action, given burrows can weaken the land on which the rails are placed.

[CharlieT]

Really interesting - I had no idea landowners were obliged to kill rabbits.

And as an aside, as far as I know, no one has ever been prosecuted for not doing so.

[Scully]

So basically, you could turn up to a field that is visibly lifting with rabbits and ask permission to shoot them. The landowner denies permission because he/she likes to see them running around in their field, so you report them and the police will take action to remedy the situation?

You could try it,but I very much doubt the Police would take action,and you still wouldn't get permission to shoot them either.

As Charlie T has pointed out I have never heard of anyone either,who has been prosecuted for a lack of controlling measures despite some areas of land being overun with bunnies.

[wymberley]

Thanks for this. Night time reading? Presumably the moderators will add this to the pinned section?

 

I was bemused / concerned by the legal jargon restrictions in chapter 14.50 but BASC advise that being allowed to keep the rabbits we shoot is a "reward" which allows us to be an authorised person.

Be careful of 'cherry picking' the good bits. See Chapter 14.57 which may just cramp one's style, or, at the very least, concentrate one's mind. This is now much more relaxed than it was pre 1981 but even so, it still pays to be aware of the law even though it's dark and everyone else is in bed.

[Dunkield]

Presumably the moderators will add this to the pinned section?

 

Done already, although as we know no one ever reads pinned topics, ever