UK Offence Report

Notification of transfers of deactivated firearms

regulation 2(1) of The Firearms Regulations 2019

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 A person commits an offence if the person—

a transfers

a deactivated firearm to another person, and

b does not give notice of the transfer to the appropriate national authority in accordance with paragraph (2).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
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 2(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Firearms Regulations 2019.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£200
Standard scale
Level 1
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
28 October 2019
In force from
12 December 2019
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 these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision in respect of deactivated firearms and amend the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 (“the 2004 Order”) (S.I. 2004/702) (N.I. 3) in order to complete the implementation in the United Kingdom of Directive (EU) 2017/853 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2017 (“the 2017 Directive”) amending Council Directive 91/477/EEC (“the 1991 Directive”) on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons. Measures have also been implemented in respect of England and Wales and Scotland through the Firearms (Amendment) (No.2) Rules 2019. Regulations 2 to 4 implement article 8 of the 1991 Directive which applies to firearms deactivated in accordance with Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2403 as a result of article 1(19) of the 2017 Directive. Article 8 prohibits possession of such firearms unless they have been notified to a competent authority and requires notification of their transfer. Regulation 2 makes it an offence to transfer a deactivated firearm unless notice of that transfer has been given in accordance with that regulation to the appropriate national authority. A person found guilty of an offence under regulation 2 is liable to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale. Regulation 3(1) makes it an offence for a person to be in possession of a deactivated firearm unless that person gives notice of the firearm in accordance with that regulation to the appropriate national authority or notice of the transfer of the firearm to that person has been given in accordance with regulation 2. Paragraph (2) of regulation 3 provides for an exception to paragraph (1) where the person is in possession of the deactivated firearm for a period of 14 days or less. Paragraph (5) provides a defence where a person to whom a deactivated firearm has been transferred shows that they reasonably believed that the transferor had given, or would give, notice of the transfer in accordance with regulation 2. A person found guilty of an offence under regulation 3 is liable to a fine not exceeding level 1 on the standard scale. Regulation 4 makes transitional provision in respect of deactivated firearms acquired before 14th September 2018 so that a person does not have to notify a deactivated firearm in accordance with regulation 3 until 14th March 2021 if that firearm came into the person’s possession before 14th September 2018. Regulation 5 implements articles 5(1)(a), 4(4) and 4(1) and (2) of the 1991 Directive as amended by articles 1(6), 1(3)(b) and 1(3)(a) respectively of the 2017 Directive in respect of Northern Ireland. Regulation 5(2) amends Article 7 of the 2004 Order (grant of firearm certificate to young persons) to ensure that, where a person under 18 is permitted to acquire or possess a firearm and ammunition, an appropriate adult assumes responsibility for its secure storage. Regulation 5(3) amends Article 38A of the 2004 Order (recording of transactions in firearms by Chief Constable) in order to update the particulars of firearms transactions to be recorded by the Chief Constable and manner by which the record must be kept. Regulation 5(4) amends the particulars to be entered by firearms dealers into the record of transactions under paragraph 6 of Schedule 3 to the 2004 Order to reflect the changes to the requirements for marking firearms. A transposition note has been laid before Parliament which provides more detail on the way that the amendments to the 1991 Directive have been implemented. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this became law

This instrument became law without a debate or a vote. Under the negative procedure it took effect unless a motion to stop it succeeded, and none was tabled.

Neither House could have amended it. A statutory instrument is put to each House as a whole thing, to be approved or not; the Houses can reject an instrument or record their regret, but they cannot change a word of it. That is the constitutional position for every offence on this site.

The full procedural history →

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 “commits 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