Are our gun laws fair?

Yes... says PC Geoff Jackson, firearms licensing officer with North Yorkshire Police

NORTH Yorkshire Police is giving full support to a measure designed to reduce the flow of deadly weapons to criminals.

The Anti-Social Behaviour Act, which became law in January, includes a measure to ban a type of air weapon that can be adapted to fire live ammunition. The intention is to reduce the number of guns falling into the hands of criminals.

The legislation makes it an offence to make, sell, buy or own any air weapon using a self-contained gas cartridge. These are not the airguns which have a built-in pressurised air canister, but the type which uses individual gas cartridges from which an air gun pellet can be fired.

These weapons are no more powerful than any normal air pistol. It is the fact that they can be adapted to fire live ammunition by using a quite simple technique that makes them a threat.

We recognise that most people who have these type of guns hold them legally. North Yorkshire Police has an excellent relationship with gun owners, and I want to emphasise that these new regulations - and our support of them - are not intended in any way as persecution of the shooting fraternity.

This is all about cutting the supply of lethal weapons to criminals, no more and no less. The fewer of these weapons that are in circulation, the more difficult it will be for criminals to get hold of them.

Although the act became law in January, a period of grace has been given to gun owners to enable them to comply. They have until May 1 to either surrender their gas cartridge guns - they can be handed in at any police station in North Yorkshire, and will be sent away for disposal - or to obtain a firearm certificate which permits possession of such guns under certain conditions.

At the end of that time, anyone in possession of one of these weapons without a firearms certificate will be committing a criminal offence.

To apply for a firearm certificate, or if you are unsure about the new prohibition, call North Yorkshire Police's Firearms Licensing Department on 01609-783131 during office hours. We will be happy to advise you.

There is a concession being granted to owners of this particular type of weapon. Normally when applying for a firearms licence, you will need to show to police good reason why you need a weapon - it could be, for example, that you are a member of a gun club.

The requirement of showing good reason has been waived with these weapons, however applicants will still have to install approved security. The police will do background checks, but as long as you are a fit and proper person, physically and mentally, you should not have any problem obtaining a licence.

Time is ticking, however. We are already one and a half months into the period of grace given to either surrender these weapons or to apply for a firearm certificate. So if you are in possession of one of these guns, it is important that you do act now, or risk committing a criminal offence.

No... says Steven Woodhall, regional officer of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC)

THE Forensic Science Service has recognised that 'Brocock' type self-contained gas cartridge system air weapons can be converted to fire 'live' ammunition. The new legislation has been put in place to prevent criminals from obtaining this type of firearm and converting it for use in illegal activity.

As BASC is against all forms of criminal activity and illegal use of firearms, we recognise the importance of this legislation. However, by providing neither compensation for law-abiding owners and through a 'patchy' publicity campaign, the Government risks criminalising thousands of innocent people who legitimately purchased such air weapons, which cost between £100-500.

Until January 20 the guns, which operate using a self-contained gas cartridge system, could be bought legally with no licence. They were mainly used for target shooting. Under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, however, it is now already illegal to buy, sell or even give away these guns. Owners have been given until April 30 to obtain a firearms certificate from the police, or else hand the weapons in to the police.

Brocock, the main manufacturer and importer, estimates at least 75,000 have been sold in the UK since 1989. There are no official records of how many guns have been sold in each area, but BASC has made comparisons using the number of shotgun and firearm certificates on issue as a guide to "shooting interest" in each force area, and we estimate that in North Yorkshire alone there could be about 2,200 of these weapons.

The main concern is that a considerable number of them may be owned by people who are not involved with organisations such as ourselves and will not have had good warning or will not even know about the new legislation. Potentially this could lead to imprisonment of five years!

We believe the Home Office has failed to make people properly aware of this. BASC represents 120,000 members and we received one poster, one sticker and one leaflet for publicity purposes.

It takes eight to ten weeks to process an application, and there are now nine weeks to the deadline of April 30 to obtain a firearms certificate from the police.

The Home Office must take immediate steps to sort this out or thousands of people could be imprisoned because of the Home Office's failure. At the very least, the deadline must be extended by several months while the Home Office brings in a publicity blitz. If this is not done, the police and courts could become swamped.

Ironically, we fear a further consequence of the legislation could be a sudden increase in the number of these guns in criminal hands, in direct opposition to the purpose of the Act.

Some of these guns can be converted to fire live rounds. The law is designed to ban them.

As people discover they face a minimum five year jail term for possession, it is likely many guns will either be dumped or sold on the black market. It could result in a massive surge in their availability to criminals.

Updated: 09:52 Wednesday, March 03, 2004