Gun politics in the United Kingdom

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Gun politics

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The United Kingdom has some of the strictest gun legislation in the world. All firearms except low-powered airguns can only be obtained on licence on a "firearms certificate", except "shotguns", which are defined in UK law as smoothbore firearms with barrels not shorter than 24", no revolving cylinder, and either no magazine, or a non-detachable magazine that is not capable of holding more that two cartridges. This effectively gives a maximum three round overall capacity. Shotguns thus defined are subject to a less rigorous certification and registration process, on a "shotgun certificate".

In similarity with Australia, gun politics in the United Kingdom places its main considerations in how best to ensure public safety and how crimes involving firearms can most effectively be prevented, with little consensus between pro-gun control and pro-shooting advocates. There is practically no organised "right to keep and bear arms" lobby in the United Kingdom, and such positions are generally frowned upon in public debate. Sharp rises in gun crime from the late 1990s and illicit importation of firearms has proved to be a problem, while two high-profile massacres involving licenced firearms has brought the sport of target shooting into general disrepute.

Contents

1 Licensing and legislation
2 History of gun control in the United Kingdom
3 Modern changes in gun control

3.1 Hungerford incident
3.2 Dunblane massacre

4 Controversy
5 Comparison with other countries
6 The 2012 Olympics
7 Relevant acts of Parliament
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Licensing and legislation

A firearms certificate differs from a shotgun certificate in that justification must be provided to the police for each firearm individually, and these firearms are listed, by type, calibre, and serial number, individually on the certificate; whereas a shotgun licence enables the ownership of as many shotguns as can be safely accommodated. To gain permission for a new firearm, a "variation" must be sought, for which a fee is payable unless the variation is made at the time of renewal, or unless it constitutes a one-for-one replacement of an existing firearm which is to be disposed of. The certificate also sets out, by calibre, the maximum quantities of ammunition which may be bought/possessed at any one time, and is used to record the purchasing of ammunition (except, optionally, where ammunition is both bought, and used immediately, on a range).

To obtain a firearms certificate, the police must be convinced that a person has "good reason" to own each gun, and that they can be trusted with it "without danger to the public safety or to the peace" ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Generally speaking, gun licences are only issued if a person has legitimate sporting or work related reasons for owning a gun ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Since 1946, self defence has not been considered a viable reason to own a gun.

Any person who has spent more than three years in prison is automatically banned for life from attaining a gun license [link].

Any person holding a gun licence (and a weapon - you can have a licence without a gun) must comply with strict conditions, such as conditions on the storage of firearms in a secure place; storage arrangements are checked by the police before the granting of permission to store weapons, and on every renewal of the licence. A local police force may impose additional conditions on ownership, over and above those set out by law. Failure to comply with any of these conditions can mean the forfeiture of the gun licence, which would mean that any firearms held must be handed in to the police.

The penalty for owning a prohibited firearm, such as a semi-auto centrefire rifle, or a modern handgun, illegally without a special, rarely issued certificate is now a mandatory minimum five year prison sentence and possibly an unlimited fine. [link] [link]

History of gun control in the United Kingdom

As English subjects, Protestants had a conditional right to possess arms according to the Bill of Rights.

"That the subjects which are Protestants may have Arms for their Defence suitable to their Conditions, and as allowed by Law." House of Commons Journal 29 [link]"

The rights of English subjects, and, after 1707, British subjects, to possess arms was recognized under English Common Law. Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, were highly influential and were used as a reference and text book for English Common Law. In his Commentaries, Blackstone described the right to arms.

"The fifth and last auxiliary right of the subject, that I shall at present mention, is that of having arms for their defense, suitable to their condition and degree, and such as are allowed by law. Which is also declared by the same statute I W. & M. st.2. c.2. and is indeed a public allowance, under due restrictions, of the natural right of resistance and self-preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression."*--William Blackstone,'1 Commentaries on the Laws of England" 136

Formerly, this same British common law applied to the UK and Australia, as well as until 1791 to the Colonies in North America that became the United States. The right to keep and bear arms had originated in England during the reign of Henry II with the 1181 Assize of Arms, and developed as part of Common Law. These rights no longer exist in the UK, since the UK's doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy allows rights to arms for subjects to be rescinded*, unlike in the United States where the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits infringement of historic Common Law rights of citizens to keep and bear arms. Whether the right to keep and bear arms has been rescinded would depend on the interpretation of R vs Holburn, which found that certain parliamentary acts - "constitutional acts" - can only be repealed explicitly, not implicitly. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Modern restrictions on gun ownership began in 1903, with the Pistols Act. This required a person to obtain a gun license before they could buy a firearm with a barrel shorter than 9 inches. The "gun license" had been introduced as a revenue measure in 1870; the law required a person to obtain a license if he wanted to carry a gun outside his home, whether for hunting, self-defense, or other reasons, but not to buy one. The licenses cost 10 shillings, which is about £31 in 2005 money, lasted one year, and could be bought over the counter at post-offices.

A registration system gun law - the Firearms Act - was first introduced to Great Britain in 1920, spurred on partly due to fears of a surge in crime that might have resulted from the large number of guns available following World War I and in part due to fears of working class unrest in this period. The law initially did not affect smoothbore weapons of vitually any sort. These were available for purchase without any form of paperwork.

Fully automatic weapons were almost completely banned from private ownership by the 1937 Firearms Act, which took its inspiration from the US 1934 National Firearms Act. Such weapons are nowadays only available to certain special collectors, museums and prop companies. The 1937 Act also consolidated changes to the 1920 Act that controlled shotguns with barrels shorter than 20". This length was later raised by the 1965 Firearms act to 24".

The first control of long-barreled shotguns began in 1967 with the Criminal Justice Act. This required a person to obtain a "Shotgun Certificate" to own any shotgun. The Act did not require the registration of shotguns, only licensing.

The Hungerford massacre of 1987 led to the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988. This banned semiauto and pump-action centrefire rifles, military weapons firing explosive ammunition, and short shotguns that had magazines. Registration and secure storage of weapons held on shotgun certificates became required, and shotguns with more than a 2+1 capacity came to need a Firearms certificate.

As of 1997, handguns have been almost completely banned for private ownership following legislation passed shortly after the Dunblane massacre in 1996. Exceptions to the ban include muzzle-loading "blackpowder" guns, pistols produced before 1917, pistols of historical interest (such as pistols used in notable crimes, rare prototypes, unusual serial numbers and so on), starting pistols, pistols that are of particular aesthetic interest (such as engraved or jewelled guns) and shot pistols for pest control. This is despite the fact that the official enquiry into the subject, the Cullen Report, did not recommend such action. Even Britain's Olympic shooters fall under this ban; as a result of this law, the British pistol shooting team must train outside the country. As a result of shooting being a minority interest sport in the UK, there was little public resistance to the legislation, although it had opponents on both sides of the argument -- those who felt it was too weak, and those who felt it went too far ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Modern changes in gun control

Changes in public attitudes in the 1970s and 1980s changed the basis on which firearms were perceived and understood in British society. Increasingly graphic portrayals of firearms involved in gratuitous acts of violence in the mass media gave rise to concern of the emergence of an aggressive "gun culture". A steady rise in violent gun crime in general also became an issue of concern. This period saw a change of attitude within the government away from legislating to preclude a violent civil uprising to legislating to ensure public safety and prevent crime, with the most radical changes being introduced in the aftermath of a specific incident.

Hungerford incident

In 1987, 27 year old Michael Ryan, armed with a Chinese-made semi-automatic AK-47, a Beretta handgun and an Israeli-made fragmentation grenade, dressed up in combat fatigues and proceeeded around the town of Hungerford killing or wounding everyone he met, in what became the known as the Hungerford massacre. The press suggested he had been inspired by the film Rambo, which later turned out to be false (he had never seen the film), but he did possess a number of similarly violent films.

In the aftermath, the Conservative government passed the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988, the principles of which had been decided beforehand, which elevated pump-action and self-loading rifles into the Prohibited category and introducted new restrictions on shotguns, however rifles in .22 rimfire and semi-automatic pistols were spared.

Dunblane massacre

Eight years after the Hungerford Massacre, the Dunblane Massacre was the second time in less than a decade that unarmed civilians had been killed in Britain by a legally-licensed gun owner. On March 13 1996 Thomas Hamilton, aged 43, a disgruntled former scout leader (having been ousted by The Scout Association five years previously), shot dead sixteen young children and their teacher, Gwenne Mayor, in Dunblane Primary school's gymnasium with his legally-licensed weapons and ammunition. He then shot himself. There is a memorial to the seventeen victims in the local cemetery and a cenotaph in the cathedral. The funds raised in the aftermath of the tragedy have been used to build a new community centre for the town. Following the incident, the government passed legislation effectively banning handgun ownership in the UK.

Controversy

According to Home Office figures released in January 2003 ^{[#endnote_telegraph2003]}, gun related crime has increased since the 1997 ban. In the light of such figures, and because of continued Home Office lack of interest in any legal changes other than further restrictions, many sporting shooters have concluded that gun control advocates (including the Labour Party) have no genuine interest in public safety at all, and only use it as a convenient excuse to disguise simple "bigotry" (to quote "Target Sports" magazine editorial, June 2005) ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

Figures released by the Home Office in April 2003 show a marked decrease in overall crime including violent crime; however, the total number of law enforcement personnel in the UK has reached an all-time high. ^{[#endnote_guardian2003]}

From June 2003 to June 2004, recorded gun crime in the UK rose by 3% to 10,590 incidents. There was also a 14% rise in violent crime in the April-June period (265,800 incidents compared to 223,600 the previous year). Advocates on both sides of the gun control debate have argued how this is correctly interpreted with no consensus.

Comparison with other countries

Britain remains one of the countries with the lowest murder rate in the world accounting for 853 murders in the reporting period 2003/04 according to the Home Office's Crime Statistics ^{[#endnote_homeoffice2000]}. At a population of more than 60 million that translates into less than 1.3 murders per 100,000 residents in the UK. By comparison, in 2000, police in the United States reported 5.5 murders for every 100,000 population. In addition 70% of murders in the United States involve firearms compared to 6% in the United Kingdom([BBC News]). Both New York City and London have over 7 million residents with New York suffering 952 murders in 2000 to London's 189 in 2003.

The 2012 Olympics

Following the awarding of the 2012 Olympic Games to London, the government announced that special dispensation would be granted to allow the various shooting events to go ahead, as had been previously for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. ^{[#endnote_bbc2005]} However, athletes at these games complained of the terrible conditions they were subjected to. Their handguns were transported by armoured car and police convoy, they were unable to train and were forced to compete under armed guard. The government has not yet elaborated on the exact provisions to be made for the Olympic Games, but something similar can be expected.

When it was announced that Britain would host the 2012 Olympic Games, the media did give some attention and sympathy to the British shooting team and there was talk of handguns being re-legalized. However, the government has not spoken of this and it is highly unlikely.

Relevant acts of Parliament

The following information is released under Crown Copyright by the Office of Public Sector Information.

References

External links

[London Metropolitan Police firearms page] - more detail
[All the Way Down The Slippery Slope: Gun Prohibition In England And Some Lessons For Civil Liberties In America] - An essay with an extensive timeline of gun control legislation in Great Britain
[link] - Another essay on the impact of gun control legislation

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