The Firearms (Air Weapons) (England and Wales) Rules 2023
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2023/768 |
2023 No. 768
Arms And Ammunition, England And Wales
The Firearms (Air Weapons) (England and Wales) Rules 2023
Made 6th July 2023
Coming into force 31th July 2023
The Secretary of State makes the following Rules in exercise of the powers conferred by section 53(1)(c) of the Firearms Act 19681.
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Firearms (Air Weapons) (England and Wales) Rules 2023 and come into force on 31st July 2023.
(2) These Rules extend to England and Wales.
Storage of air weapons
2.—(1) For the purposes of section 24ZA(1) of the Firearms Act 19682(“the Act”), “reasonable precautions to prevent any person under the age of eighteen from having an air weapon3with him” include storing an air weapon when it is not in use or is being cleaned, repaired, tested or in transit—
(a)
(a) securely to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, access to the air weapon by a person under the age of eighteen;
(b)
(b) out of sight of a person under the age of eighteen; and
(c)
(c) separately from compatible ammunition4.
(2) This rule does not apply to a rifle to which section 27A of the Act5applies.
Chris Philp
Minister of State
Home Office
6th July 2023
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Rules)
These Rules are made under section 53(1)(c) of the Firearms Act 1968 (c. 27)(“the 1968 Act”) and extend to England and Wales.
Rule 2(1) sets out the minimum storage requirements for an air weapon to comply with section 24ZA(1) of the 1968 Act. Section 24ZA of the 1968 Act provides that it is an offence for a person in possession of an air weapon to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent a minor from having the weapon.
The effect of rule 2(2) is that these Rules do not apply to an air weapon when it is a rifle from which a shot, bullet or other missile, with a kinetic energy of more than 13,600 joules at the muzzle of the weapon, can be discharged.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument. There was, however, an impact assessment prepared to support the Government’s response to the consultation which ended on 16 February 2021 on the access of air weapons by those under the age of 18. A copy of the impact assessment can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1090906/20220523_Air_Weapons_IA_DRAFT_FINAL.pdf. A hard copy may...
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