Preventing Harm from Firearms, Weapons, and Explosives

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Firearms Act 1968 (FiA 1968), which controls the possession, use, manufacture, transfer, and acquisition of firearms or ammunition. It looks at other Acts that punish the possession or use of firearms in particular circumstances and deal with other forms of weapon and with explosives. It also describes a lethal barrelled weapon as a barrelled weapon from which a shot, bullet, or other missile, with kinetic energy of more than one joule at the muzzle of the weapon, can be discharged. The chapter talks about antique firearms which are sold, transferred, purchased, acquired, or possessed as a curiosity or ornament, which are not considered applicable to FiA 1968. It explains that a weapon that has been classified as a prohibited weapon will remain classified as such even if it has been converted into a weapon of another type.