UK Offence Report

Prohibited weapons and ammunition

regulation 4(1) of The Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992

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

6 of the 1981 Order (weapons subject to general prohibition)—

a after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph— 1A Subject to Article 6A,

a person who without the authority of the Secretary of State has in his possession, or purchases or acquires, or sells or transfers—

a any firearm which is disguised as another object;

b any rocket or ammunition not falling within paragraph (1)(c) which consists in or incorporates

a missile designed to explode on or immediately before impact and is for military use;

c any launcher or other projecting apparatus not falling within paragraph (1)(ae) which is designed to be used with any rocket or ammunition falling within sub-paragraph (b) or with ammunition which would fall within that sub-paragraph but for its being ammunition falling within paragraph (1)(c);

d any ammunition for military use which consists in or incorporates

a missile designed so that

a substance contained in the missile will ignite on or immediately before impact;

e any ammunition for military use which consists in or incorporates

a missile designed, on account of its having

a jacket and hard-core, to penetrate armour plating, armour screening or body armour;

f any ammunition which is designed to be used with

a pistol and incorporates

a missile designed or adapted to expand on impact;

g anything which is designed to be projected as

a missile from any weapon and is designed to be, or has been, incorporated in—

i any ammunition falling within sub-paragraphs (b) to (f); or

ii any ammunition which would fall within any of those subparagraphs but for its being specified in paragraph (1), shall be guilty of an offence. ;

b after paragraph (5) there shall be added the following paragraph—

6 For the purposes of this Article and Article 6A—

a any rocket or ammunition which is designed to be capable of being used with

a military weapon shall be taken to be for military use;

b references to

a missile designed so that

a substance contained in the missile will ignite on or immediately before impact include references to any missile containing

a substance that ignites on exposure to air; and

c references to

a missile’s expanding on impact include references to its deforming in any predictable manner on or immediately after impact. .

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
acting without the licence or authorisation required
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 4(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. Starting the activity before the licence is granted, rather than on the day it takes effect under the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (Amendment) Regulations 1992.
  2. Carrying on after a licence has expired, been surrendered or been suspended.
  3. Relying on somebody else's authorisation, where the provision requires the person doing the act to hold one.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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
21 December 1992
In force from
1 January 1993
Extent
N.I.

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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations (which are made under section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972) amend the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 “the 1981 Order”) for the purpose of implementing requirements of Council Directive No. 91/447/EEC (on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons) (O.J. No. L256, 13.9.91, page 51) (“the Directive”). References in this note to categories are references to categories in Annex I to the Directive. Regulation 3defines certain expressions used in the 1981 Order as amended by these Regulations. Regulation 4makes the additional provision in the 1981 Order which is necessary for the purpose of implementing the requirements of Article 6 of the Directive. The weapons and ammunition referred to in the regulation are classified as prohibited weapons and ammunition under Article 6 of the 1981 Order, that is to say, in this instance, weapons and ammunition whose possession, purchase, acquisition, sale or transfer requires the authority of the Secretary of State. The regulation contains an exception for collectors and bodies recognised for the purposes of the law of another member State as being concerned with the cultural and historical aspects of weapons, in light of their general exception under Article 2.2 of the Directive. There is an exception for licensed slaughterers in respect of expanding ammunition for use with a slaughtering instrument. There is also an exception in respect of expanding pistol ammunition for persons whose firearm certificates limit its use for purposes authorised by the Directive (“the authorised purposes”) that is to say use with a slaughtering instrument or for the purposes of sport, the shooting of vermin and, in connection with estate management, other wildlife, competition and target shooting outside competition. Registered firearms dealers whose certificates of registration enable them to do so may acquire such ammunition for sale or transfer to persons who fall within the exception. Regulation 5implements the requirements of Article 1.4 of and Annex II to the Directive by providing for the issue or renewal, on request, of a European Firearms Pass. The regulation also implements Article 7.1 of the Directive, insofar as it requires a resident of Northern Ireland to have the agreement of his domestic authorities to his purchase of a category B firearm, or ammunition for such a firearm, in another member State; it does this by providing for the issue of an authorisation which is referred to as an “Article 7 authority”. In both cases the document in question is to be issued by the Chief Constable to a person who is granted or is the holder of a firearm certificate. However, there is provision also for the issue of an Article 7 authority to a person without a certificate who does not intend to bring the firearm or ammunition in question into the United Kingdom. Regulation 6(1)implements the requirement in Article 12.1 of the Directive that a visitor’s European Firearms Pass should record the authorisation given by the State he is visiting. The effect of regulation 6(1) is that details of a visitor’s firearm certificate are to be entered on his European Firearms Pass, unless he can show that he is not entitled to have such a pass or that he falls wholly within the general exception for collectors and bodies concerned in the cultural and historical aspects of weapons. Regulation 6(2)implements the requirements in Articles 1.4 and 12.1 of the Directive respectively that the visitor is to retain possession of his European Firearms Pass and produce it whenever so required by the authorities. It requires the production of a pass on demand by a constable. Regulation 7implements the requirement in Article 8.2 of the Directive that a resident of Northern Ireland who purchases or acquires a Category C firearm in another member State must inform his own domestic authorities of the transaction, by requiring him to give notice of the transaction to the Chief Constable. There are exceptions if he does not intend to remove the firearm from the member State where the acquisition takes place or if he falls wholly within the general exception for collectors and bodies concerned in the cultural and historical aspects of weapons. Regulation 8sets out the punishments for the new offences created by these regulations. Regulation 9removes any obligation as to confidentiality or secrecy with regard to the disclosure of information which is required to be disclosed in pursuance of the Directive, in particular by Article 13.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

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