buying an airgun northern ireland

kellzar

hi lads,
ive a mate going to live in belfast soon and he was wondering what he has to do to buy an airgun? i know its an over the counter job in the mainland uk but he cant seem to find any websites with the norths rules

Cass

In the UK if the air rifle is under 12ft/lb, and the person over 18 (IIRC) they can purchase without an FAC.

However in the North (AFAIK) anything over 1 joule requires it to be licensed.added to FAC. Same as here.

Cass

From PSNI website;

Airguns not Requiring a Firearm Certificate

In Northern Ireland airguns and CO2 guns having a discharge kinetic energy in excess of one (1) Joule (0.737 ft lbs) require to be held on a firearm certificate. For airguns below that limit the following restrictions are in place.

• Under Paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 of the Firearms (NI) Order 2004, persons under the age of 18 cannot possess such firearms, unless they have attained the age of 14 years or are under the direct supervision of a person of 21 years or over.
• Persons not holding a firearms certificate cannot purchase such firearms, unless they have attained the age of 17 years.
• Ammunition for an airgun can be purchased and possessed without holding a firearm certificate.

tac foley

It always makes me laff - kind of.

Northern Ireland still permits its citizens to have modern cartridge-firing handguns of any kind, and to carry out IPSC-type sports like the rest of world [with very few exceptions].

For reasons we won't discuss here, there are also about 8000 citizens who carry a handgun for personal defence, something that happens nowhere else in the United Kingdom since the late 1930's.

And yet the authorities view air guns over 1Joule as lethal weapons, as dangerous, in the wrong hands, as the mighty .500 Smith & Wesson.

Just shows that there are loony laws just about everywhere.

tac

demonloop

tac foley wrote: »

It always makes me laff - kind of.

Northern Ireland still permits its citizens to have modern cartridge-firing handguns of any kind, and to carry out IPSC-type sports like the rest of world [with very few exceptions].

For reasons we won't discuss here, there are also about 8000 citizens who carry a handgun for personal defence, something that happens nowhere else in the United Kingdom since the late 1930's.

And yet the authorities view air guns over 1Joule as lethal weapons, as dangerous, in the wrong hands, as the mighty .500 Smith & Wesson.

Just shows that there are loony laws just about everywhere.

tac

Good ol' Mo

The Secretary of State took the view that sporting users of hand guns should also be enabled to retain their weapons firearms, in view of "the excellent safety record of local target shooters and their clear commitment to maintaining the highest standards of personal behaviour and practice within their sport"

rowa

The firearms laws in the north are the best , common sense laws in europe, the person holding the licence is licenced and not the firearms he holds, it was supposed to be going to be like this , also one fee per holder and not per firearm, but of course the muppet show that govern us made a mess of it and we have an inefficient joke.

tac foley

Ronan, I wouldn't say they are the best, as there are no self-loading centre-fire rifles or carbines like you have in the Republic, but they certainly beat the rest of the UK with regard to issuing licences to lawful sportsmen to enjoy the sport of modern centre and rimfire pistol shooting. The somewhat loony airgun laws need binning tho', IMO.

Whatever else gun laws may or may not do, no laws can make provisions for the occasional homicidal maniac intent on causing mayhem with a firearm.

tac, who lost guns in 1988 and a load more in 1998.

fish slapped

tac foley wrote: »

It always makes me laff - kind of.

Northern Ireland still permits its citizens to have modern cartridge-firing handguns of any kind, and to carry out IPSC-type sports like the rest of world [with very few exceptions].

For reasons we won't discuss here, there are also about 8000 citizens who carry a handgun for personal defence, something that happens nowhere else in the United Kingdom since the late 1930's.

And yet the authorities view air guns over 1Joule as lethal weapons, as dangerous, in the wrong hands, as the mighty .500 Smith & Wesson.

Just shows that there are loony laws just about everywhere.

tac

I believe they have to be licensed to have their handgun also and don't just hand them out easily. Any FIREARM or air-arm can be lethal in the wrong hands ... as a spoon could. Hence the idea of licences ... to stop them getting to the wrong hands.

I think Ezridax covered the OP's question in post #3.

Fish

tac foley

fish slapped wrote: »

I believe they have to be licensed to have their handgun also and don't just hand them out easily. Any FIREARM or air-arm can be lethal in the wrong hands ... as a spoon could. Hence the idea of licences ... to stop them getting to the wrong hands.

I think Ezridax covered the OP's question in post #3.

Fish

Uh, yes. Without wishing to play word games with you, implicit in my answer was the fact that the Northern Ireland authorities allow their citizens to have handguns WITH suitable licensing to pursue their shooting hobby/sport.

You appear to have ignored THIS part of my answer - 'with regard to issuing licences to lawful sportsmen to enjoy the sport of modern centre and rimfire pistol shooting.

Having spent a few valuable years of my youthful life in Northern Ireland, I am well aware of the firearms laws in that part of the UK.

tac

fish slapped

You simply used the word permits, which is very different to regulating and licensing. With your comparison of a 1 joule air rifle needing a license and they ( the citizen) can have a .50 cal. Handgun being a little irrelevant as both need licensing.

Glensman

I think the airgun laws in the 6-counties are just fine.
If someone 'needs' an airgun, let them apply for it and pay the license fee.

kildare.17hmr

Glensman wrote: »

I think the airgun laws in the 6-counties are just fine.
If someone 'needs' an airgun, let them apply for it and pay the license fee.

Completly disagree with that lad, the UK system is much better. More lads get a chance to get into shooting and its much easier for you g fellas to start off and learn what they are doing before moving onto "real" guns

Glensman

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Completly disagree with that lad, the UK system is much better. More lads get a chance to get into shooting and its much easier for you g fellas to start off and learn what they are doing before moving onto "real" guns

I get that side of the argument. But you should see the number of 'accidents' with airguns in Britain. They are currently attempting to tighten up airgun laws in Scotland...

tac foley

Glensman wrote: »

I get that side of the argument. But you should see the number of 'accidents' with airguns in Britain. They are currently attempting to tighten up airgun laws in Scotland...

Yes, but what may have attracted your attention is the ILLEGAL use of airguns, something that only the person holding it has any control over.

I have fourteen air guns of various kinds in my house, and not one of them has ever taken to roaming the streets and shooting at cats, dogs or children.

Scotland, of course, can do its own thing when it eventually becomes independent, and quite frankly, few of us who don't live in Scotland care less. right now, it has to abide by the general UK firearms acts with regard to air guns of all types.

As an aside, I was recently trying to help out a fellow shooter in Co Cork by sending him a selection of match pellets to try in his new target air pistol. When I found out that I had to send them to a registered firearms dealer so that he could register them and dole them out a hundred at a time I gave up trying.

tac

tac foley

fish slapped wrote: »

You simply used the word permits, which is very different to regulating and licensing. With your comparison of a 1 joule air rifle needing a license and they ( the citizen) can have a .50 cal. Handgun being a little irrelevant as both need licensing.

Please read my post - 'with regard to issuing licences to lawful sportsmen to enjoy the sport of modern centre and rimfire pistol shooting.'

Thank you.

tac

rowa

Glensman wrote: »

I think the airgun laws in the 6-counties are just fine.
If someone 'needs' an airgun, let them apply for it and pay the license fee.

I don't really concur with this , if we could have an air rifle/pistol up to a certain power (12 ft/lbs for a rifle, 6 ft/lbs for a pistol as in the uk) in the republic held on an authorisation from a super, and not subject to the same security requirements it would be great for shooting and might mend some fences between the shooting community and the ptb.

tac foley

I think that this just about covers everything about airguns on mainland UK - Northern Ireland, of course, as we have already noted- treats ALL airguns or those driven by CO2 with a muzzle energy over 1 Joule as a Section 1 firearm. Before you read this screed, plase note that in some countries of the EU, notably Germany where many airguns are made, treat ANY airgun that has a muzzle energy of more than the equivalent of 6 ft lbs as a firearm, so in that respect, the mainland UK is ahead of most others.

Civil Law
It should be born in mind by every airgun shooter that the unexpected could happen and they could find themselves facing a civil action for damage to property or even injury to persons or livestock. Every airgun shooter should have Third Party Public Liability Insurance before venturing out of doors, and joining one of the bodies representing shooters interests is the best way to achieve this.

Following the enactment of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, listed below are the current regulations relating to the purchase, ownership, sale and possession of airguns and ammunition.

Persons under the age of 14:
1) No person under the age of 14 may purchase, hire or be given an airgun or ammunition.
2) A person under the age of 14 must at all times when shooting be supervised by a person over the age of 21.

Persons over the age of 14 but under 18:
1) No person under the age of 18 may purchase, hire or be given an airgun or ammunition.
2) A person in this age group may shoot unsupervised on private land with the permission of the landowner but must be supervised by somebody over the age of 21 if in a public place.
It should be noted that this means that a person aged seventeen and a half who may have a driving licence cannot take an air rifle from home to his club to shoot unless the gun is possessed by somebody over the age of eighteen or the seventeen and a half-year old is supervised by a person over the age of twenty-one.

Persons over the age of 18:
A person over the age of eighteen can buy an airgun and pellets and use them unsupervised.

General Restrictions:1)
It is an offence to have an airgun in a public place "without good reason", the proof being the responsibility of the possessor.
2) It is an offence to discharge a firearm [read airgun] within fifty feet of the centre of a highway, if doing so would cause a nuisance or endangering the public
3) When shooting over private land it is an offence for the pellet to go beyond the boundary of the premises on which the gun is being used unless there is permission from the adjoining landowner.
4) Persons who by way of trade deal in airguns, pressure bearing parts or component parts must be a Registered Firearms Dealer and any transaction must be face-to-face. Ammunition for airguns may continue to be sold by post.

Exceptions:
1) It is not an offence for a person to have with him an airgun or ammunition whilst being a member of a Home Office Approved Club in connection with target practice.
2) Air rifles with a muzzle energy in excess of 12 foot pounds (which require licensing) are not subject to the general restrictions listed above.
3) An "airgun" with the kinetic energy of less than one joule is considered a toy and is therefore not covered by the above restrictions but may be considered a realistic imitation firearm (if it looks like a gun). The sale of realistic imitation firearms is now banned with one or two minor exceptions, mainly for historical re-enactment, museums and television/film/theatrical performances or as a recognized member of an airsoft site affiliated to the Association of British AirSoft.

Crime and Security Bill:
Offence of allowing minors access to air rifles/pistols, The Firearms Act 1968 is amended as follows.

Failing to prevent minors from having air rifles/pistols.
It is an offence for a person in possession of an air rifle/pistol to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent any persons under the age of 18 from having the air rifle/pistol with him.

As an aside, it has always seem rather odd to me that I can have a real tactical-type military-looking rifle that can shoot accurately at over a thousand metres, and sends its bullet almost three miles, but I am prohibited by UK law from having a gas-propelled replica of it.

tac

recipio

Something tells me that its no coincidence that the energy level of 1 joule is the same in NI and the ROI.
Can you imagine the scenario if NI had the same airgun laws as mainland UK ?
I think a good few airguns would find their way south under the grocery shopping.

tac foley

rowa wrote: »

I don't really concur with this , if we could have an air rifle/pistol up to a certain power (12 ft/lbs for a rifle, 6 ft/lbs for a pistol as in the uk) in the republic held on an authorisation from a super, and not subject to the same security requirements it would be great for shooting and might mend some fences between the shooting community and the ptb.

Over in sunny Brighton, Ontario right now, just having had a huge Canadian breakfast that would choke a horse, and getting up to date a bit.

In UK there is no need to get ANY form of authorisation from anybody for any kind of airgun that fits in the limits - all that the dealer might ask is for your address at the time of the sale, and that's it.

Of course, only a licensed firerams dealer - RFD - can sell an airgun over the limit, and you have to have a valid FAC to buy it as well. As this involves all the rigmarole required to acquire any firearm, you had better be in need of such a gun in the first place, probably for pest control or similar. The sport of field target - invented in the UK - does not permit the use of rifles over the 12 ft lb limit.

I have three air-rifles and ten pistols - all, except my 10m rifle and pistol - older guns. In fact, one of my rifles is about 55 years old now and bought by my dad for ten bob off a pal at work. Still shoots through both sides of a soda can at ten yards though with a very satisfying clank.

tac, burping gently

mayoman1973

Having read this post I still have a question .... "Do I need a licence/permit to buy, own and shoot an air rifle with energy level below 1 Joule"?
I live in Co Derry.

Cass

No. Just to be over 16 yrs old.

However i don't know of any air rifle under that power. Most are Airsoft. IOW toys, not guns.

recipio

mayoman1973 wrote: »

Having read this post I still have a question .... "Do I need a licence/permit to buy, own and shoot an air rifle with energy level below 1 Joule"?
I live in Co Derry.

Eh.....this is an old post. You realise it would have the energy level of a peashooter. Is there any point. ?