UK Offence Report

Auctioneers, carriers and warehousemen

article 6(1) of The Firearms (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1989

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 In Article

10 of the principal Order (exemptions for auctioneers, carriers and warehousemen), after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph— 1A An auctioneer, carrier or warehouseman who—

a fails to take reasonable precautions for the safe custody of any firearm or ammunition which, by virtue of paragraph (1), he or any servant of his has in his possession without holding

a firearm certificate; or

b fails to report forthwith to the Chief Constable the loss or theft of any such firearm or ammunition, shall be guilty of an offence. .

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
failing to notify or register
Fault element
Objective fault
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened and that it fell below the standard the provision sets. That is an objective test - what a reasonable person in the same position would have done, not what this defendant actually thought.

What a person personally believed or intended is not the question; the standard is what was reasonable.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: objective standard in the offence-creating words: fails to take reasonable precautions.

What would breach article 6(1)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Not telling the authority about an event the instrument makes notifiable under the Firearms (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, or telling them after the period allowed has run out.
  2. Assuming a notification made for another purpose, or by somebody else, satisfies this requirement.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
2 August 1989
In force from
3 October 1989
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order is made only for purposes corresponding to those of certain provisions of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (c. 45). Article 3 extends the class of prohibited weapons and ammunition which cannot be held without the authority of the Secretary of State under Article 6 of the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981. By virtue of Article 4 regulations may require an application for a firearm certificate to be accompanied by up to four photographs of the applicant. Regulations may also require the firearm certificate to bear a photograph of the holder. Article 5 extends the period of registration of a firearms dealerfrom one year to three years and provides for the surrender of his register oftransactions if his name is removed from the register of firearmsdealers. Article 6 makes it an offence for an auctioneer, carrier orwarehouseman to fail to take reasonable precautions for the safe custody offirearms or ammunition or to fail to report their loss immediately to theChief Constable. Article 7 enables any constable authorised by the Chief Constable to enter and inspect any premises occupied or used by a firearms club which is authorised under Article 54 of the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 for the purpose of ascertaining whether Article 54 is being complied with.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source