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Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997

Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom

Summary

Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom

Field	Value
short_title	Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
type	Act
parliament	Parliament of the United Kingdom
long_title	An Act to extend the class of prohibited weapons under the Firearms Act 1968 to include small-calibre pistols.
statute_book_chapter	1997 c. 64
introduced_by	Jack Straw{{cite web
url	https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo970522/debtext/70522-09.htm
title	Hansard, Vol 294 Col 851	date=1997-05-22	accessdate=2008-05-29}}
territorial_extent	England and Wales
Scotland
royal_assent	27 November 1997
commencement	17 December 1997,
1 February 1998
related_legislation	Firearms Act 1968, Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997
status	Current
original_text	http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/ukpga_19970064_en_1
use_new_UK-LEG	yes

Scotland 1 February 1998 |use_new_UK-LEG=yes

The Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 (c. 64) was the second of two acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 that amended the regulation of firearms within Great Britain. It was introduced by the newly elected Labour government of Tony Blair. The first act was the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997.

Background

The act was created in response to the Snowdrop Petition following the Dunblane Massacre. The previous Conservative government had exceeded the recommendations of the Cullen Report and introduced the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 that banned "high calibre" handguns, greater than .22 calibre (5.6 mm). This new (No. 2) Act further prohibited the private possession of all cartridge handguns, regardless of calibre.

The only handguns still allowed following the ban were:

Antique and muzzle-loading black-powder guns
Firearms of historic interest whose ammunition is no longer available ("Section 7.1" firearms)
Firearms of historic interest with current calibres ("Section 7.3" firearms)
Air pistols
Firearms which fall outside the Home Office definition of "small firearms".
Pistols used by hunters for humane dispatch

The Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where firearms regulations differ in part due to the Troubles. Northern Ireland law still allows handguns to be owned for target shooting and/or as part of a collection, just as the law in Great Britain did prior to 1997. It also allows pistols for use as personal protection weapons, mainly by retired police or prison officers, but also prominent figures who were considered at risk, while self-defence ceased to be good reason for owning firearms in the rest of the UK in the 1960s. The Act also does not extend to Crown Dependencies such as the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, where handguns are still used in target sports.

Notes

References

(1997-12-17). "The Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 (Commencement) Order 1997 (No. 3114 (c.116))".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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