Some parts of the law deal with deactivated by condition and say in sea, bent etc…as others have said, there are diffs between police areas
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The problem is that there is little coordination between forces (UK is divided into dozens of county-based police forces)
And even then the firearms knowledge of individual officers is patchy in an largely unarmed policeforce.
So whilst we have people blithely saying “I wouldn’t worry because…” the fact is there is a mandatory sentence for serious firearms offences (5 years?) and English jurisprudence doesn’t recognise a defence of ” I know somebody who has had a couple of these top plates and selector arms for a few years and he hasn’t been arrested” or “Air rifles can kill people” (Twatting them hard with the butt is probably the most certain way) “.. so you can’t arrest me for this piece of a section 5 firearm despite the fact the guidance you are receiving says you can” I personally wouldn’t take that risk. Moggy
Despite all the legislation over recent time we are still in a state where no one seems to know what is legal and what is not and the rules are so vague that regional interpretation is still a problem – It doesn’t help that it is soon clear on reading the guidelines that whoever wrote them hasn’t got a clue when it comes to relic condition weapons – I noted in the latest incarnation reference to weapons with the barrels cut off, as needing special permission to be retained even when deactivated – obviously completely unaware that this was the very method used to “deactivate” many weapons (not shotguns!) long before the current rules came about – perhaps the writer had watched a few too many episode of the Sweeny!
Yes, a weapon can be deemed as no longer restricted by firearms legislation due to its condition – HOWEVER, this needs to be confirmed by someone qualified to state this – in writing! I have had this done in the past by the county police firearms inspector on several occasions, but now our local police force (i.e. covering the whole county) no longer have anyone qualified to inspect firearms due to recent cutbacks and are unlikely to have anyone in the future – they will not even come out to look at such finds. There is provision under the new legislation (2010 revision IIRC) for proof houses to inspect such relic condition weapons and proof mark them as being effectively deactivated without any work, or with only limited work being carried out – in fact, this is the direction the local police force advised me to follow with my most recent finds – However after correspondence with one of the major proof houses it became abundantly clear this is simply NOT going to happen – they will not take the responsibility and in today’s legal climate, I suppose I can see where they are coming from – but such is the state of many relic recovered weapons, they can simply not be deactivated according to the current regulations without destroying them.
As any weapons I recover are likely to be placed on public display, I obviously have a vested interest in staying the right side of the law at all times, but it becomes especially galling when viewing some of the current “battlefield archaeology” type forums and seeing relic condition weapons of all types being openly displayed and traded with little or no concern for such legislation, as there is the apparent belief that “no still moving parts” = legal deactivation – I would like to see where this is stated in the act!
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