Criminal Law Additions and Alterations
| Published date | 01 January 1966 |
| Date | 01 January 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836603000107 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Criminal
Law
Additions and
Alterations
THE
FIREARMS
ACT
1965
TH IS Act is to be construed as one with
the
Firearms Act,
1937 and strengthens the law concerning the carrying of
firearms. Sections Ito 6 came into force on 5th September,
1965 and sections 7 to 9 came into operation on
rst
November,
1965.
Section I (I) provides
that
it is an offence punishable with
up
to 10 years' imprisonment for a person to have with him a
firearm or imitation firearm with intent to commit an in-
dictable offence, or to resist arrest or to prevent
the
arrest of
another, in either case while he has
the
firearm or imitation
firearm with him.
To
prove
the
commission of an offence against this section
it
must
be
proved:-
(a)
that
the
accused had
the
firearm or imitation firearm
with him, and
(b)
that
he intended to commit an indictable offence, or to
resist arrest or to prevent
the
arrest of somebody else,
and
(c)
that
he intended to have
the
firearm or imitation
firearm with
him
whilst committing
the
indictable
offence or resisting or preventing the arrest.
"Indictable offence" has
the
same meaning as in s. 125 (b)
of
the
Magistrates' Courts Act, 1952 except
that
it does
not
include an offence triable on indictment only after aprevious
summary conviction of
that
offence.
The
intention of
the
accused
must
be proved in two
respects as mentioned at
(b)
and
(c)
above, namely an intention
to commit an indictable offence, etc., and secondly an intention
to have
the
firearm with him whilst so doing.
In
this connec-
tion s. I(2) of
the
Act provides
that
proof of
the
matters
mentioned at (a) and
(b)
above shall be evidence of
the
inten-
S9
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