UK Deactivated Forearms Registration

As of yesterday, all privately owned de-acts, not previously registered, must be registered with the Home Office. This requirement has sat dormant for a few years, but the date when all reacts owned before Sept 2018 must be registered came and went on the 14th March 2021.



I bet this catches out an awful lot of people who have forgotten.


Notification – possession
25. Under Regulation 3(1), a person in possession of a deactivated firearm commits an offence unless they have given notice of the deactivated firearm to the appropriate national authority or, where the deactivated firearm has been transferred to the person, the transfer has already been notified by the person transferring it. In most instances this will avoid the need for the same deactivated firearm to be declared twice.

26. Notice, where required, must be given on or before the day on which the person first possesses the deactivated firearm or, as soon as reasonably practicable after that date. The notice must give a description of the deactivated firearm including, if known, the make, calibre and serial number of the firearm and state the person’s name and address. There is no need to notify if the person is in possession of the deactivated firearm for a period of 14 days or less.

27. A form is provided for this purpose on GOV.UK - Notification of possession of a deactivated firearm to the appropriate national authority.

28. The required information must then be submitted to: deactivatedfirearmsnotifications@homeoffice.gov.uk or by registered post or recorded delivery to:

Deactivated Firearms Notifications
Home Office
Serious Violence Unit
5th Floor, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
29. It is an offence for a person to transfer a deactivated firearm and not give notice of the transfer. Where notice of the transfer is given by the person transferring the deactivated firearm, the person acquiring it does not need to also give notice. However, where a deactivated firearm has been transferred and the person who transferred the firearm did not notify the Home Office of the transfer, the person acquiring the firearm should instead notify.

30. Where a person to whom a deactivated firearm has been transferred commits an offence under regulation 3(1), it is a defence for that person to show that they reasonably believed that the transferor had given, or would give, notice of the transfer in accordance with the arrangements set out within Regulation 2. A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable to a level 1 fine (£200).

31. Regulation 4 makes transitional provision in respect of regulation 3 so that where a person came into possession of a deactivated firearm before 14 September 2018, the requirement to notify that deactivated firearm under regulation 3 will not take effect until 14 March 2021.

32. In practice this means that details of deactivated firearms acquired between 8 April 2016 (the date the EU technical specifications came into effect) and 14 September 2018, and which have remained unaltered ever since do not need to be notified to the appropriate national authority until 14 March 2021. If however at any time before 14 March 2021 a person in possession of a deactivated firearm acquired before 14 September 2018 transfers that deactivated firearm, then they will need to notify the Home Office of the transfer

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...no2-rules-2019

Those darn deactivated firearms are a menace to society. These mass killings from deactivated firearms must stop.

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent
Good read.

At a loss understanding why you must register a door stop.

I currently possess three deactivated firearms. Two of them were mailed to my house no questions asked, the third I bought by mistake because it was selling for $50 at an auction and it seemed cheap. I found out why later. Bulgarian M95 with a big oval cut out of the barrel. Found out it was actually a training rifle worth about 2 1/2 times what I paid for it so I was OK with it. I still found a replacement barrel for it "just in case".

It's how they keep you under observation. We're moving that direction too.

to make matters worse, it doesn't apply to pre April 2016 deacts, until you transfer them, at which point they must be upgraded to EU standards even though we are no longer in the EU. If they were deactivated after April 2016 but you owned them before Sept 2018 then you now have to register them

Talk about confusing!

Sounds like Brexit did not do much for your legislation in the UK!
That's probably more complicated paperwork than a live bolt action rifle here in France.

Next they'll be wanting them kept in a safe!:madsmile:

The irony is that we are no longer in the EU and the regulations don't apply if you transfer the 'deact out of the EU, but the legislation remains live in Domestic Law until removed.

Talk about a clusterfcuk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 30Three

Sounds like Brexit did not do much for your legislation in the UK!

---

Hang on a minute, we were in the EU for over 40 years, meaning, rightly or wrongly, over 40 years of EU law taken into UK law. When we finally left the EU we could have removed all EU law from UK law but that would have meant a huge "black-hole" of no law over many areas of UK life. Regardless of what anyone thinks about it and regardless of whether or not anyone in the UK likes it, it is not humanly possible to replace over 40 years of EU law making in the UK, overnight, solely with home-grown, pure, UK law.

If the EU took over 40 years to produce a vast array of law that was incorporated into UK law then it may be reasonable to assume that it may take another 40 years to produce "pure UK law" to replace it. Judging by the way that some of our politicians pontificate, argue, debate, analyse and argue again it may be reasonable to assume that the time frame could be considerable longer than 40 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Hang on a minute, we were in the EU for over 40 years, meaning, rightly or wrongly, over 40 years of EU law taken into UK law. When we finally left the EU we could have removed all EU law from UK law but that would have meant a huge "black-hole" of no law over many areas of UK life. Regardless of what anyone thinks about it and regardless of whether or not anyone in the UK likes it, it is not humanly possible to replace over 40 years of EU law making in the UK, overnight, solely with home-grown, pure, UK law.

If the EU took over 40 years to produce a vast array of law that was incorporated into UK law then it may be reasonable to assume that it may take another 40 years to produce "pure UK law" to replace it. Judging by the way that some of our politicians pontificate, argue, debate, analyse and argue again it may be reasonable to assume that the time frame could be considerable longer than 40 years.

---

How about they just get rid of any laws surrounding deactivated firearms? Why is it needed? The furthest they should go is to differentiate between normal and deactivated firearms and once it has been deactivated that should be it. Having to register a deactivated firearm is like having to register the picture of your grandmother hanging on the wall next to it.

I think the whole deac' issue has come about due to arms being re-activated illegally. Apparently some of the AK's used in the Paris attacks were re-engineered deac's. I think that was a catalyst for this.
( However they would have been older neutralisations. not latest spec).
Anyway if you already know where all the legal firearms are; I suppose some civil servant thought up the idea to log all the neutralised stuff just in case someone decides to have a go at re-engineering it. But that's really not practical.

They'd do a much better job for society if they could get all the criminals to register their firearms!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 30Three

I think the whole deac' issue has come about due to arms being re-activated illegally.

---

You are correct sir, our country has had great difficulties in that area so moved from one description of deac to a welded solid description. Old and new. The old still exist here though and you can tell what people are selling and what thought process they are promoting when you see the prices.

What about grenades, mines and such. Do those items need to be registered in the UK?

IIRC land mines need Home Office authority to possess, even if empty & safe, but other munitions such as hand grenades, mortar bombs & such like are ok to own so long as they are completely free of explosives. I think that is generally correct, but no doubt if I am in error someone will update us....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roger Payne

IIRC land mines need Home Office authority to possess, even if empty & safe, but other munitions such as hand grenades, mortar bombs & such like are ok to own so long as they are completely free of explosives. I think that is generally correct, but no doubt if I am in error someone will update us....

---

I've not heard of mines requiring authority before? I do hope not, everyone I worked with bought loads back from Kuwait. We made dozens of wall clocks from VS 1.1 and 2.2 Anti Tank mines.

Plenty of inert training aids for sale as well.

I thought the additional restrictions on the possession of land mines was brought in following the late Princess Diana's campaign, Roy, but I could be wrong........or they could maybe have been revised to include only live mines. I've certainly seen S, Teller, Glass, & Stock mines openly for sale at UK arms fairs in recent years, but assumed that the rules had either been modified or that the dealers were flouting them.

Many many moons ago I used to have lots of empty S mines that had come back from the Channel Islands. Luckily I sold or gave them away long ago.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Roger Payne

I thought the additional restrictions on the possession of land mines was brought in following the late Princess Diana's campaign, Roy, but I could be wrong........or they could maybe have been revised to include only live mines. I've certainly seen S, Teller, Glass, & Stock mines openly for sale at UK arms fairs in recent years, but assumed that the rules had either been modified or that the dealers were flouting them.

Many many moons ago I used to have lots of empty S mines that had come back from the Channel Islands. Luckily I sold or gave them away long ago.

---

I think you are confusing it with the signing of the landmine treaties banning their use, Roger.

The military use a system of FFE certification (free from explosives) for souvenirs etc. but I am not aware of a civvy equivalent. They are live or inert and once inert they are effectively scrap metal/plastic.

That's interesting, & potentially useful to know if I ever get offered a land mine again! Strangely though, a representative of Border Force called on a mutual acquaintance (the chap who sold your friend a L42A1 not so long ago) concerning his private importation of rifles from the US. Our friend had done nothing wrong but the visitor then turned the conversation round to ordnance as my pal had a few empty Mills on his bookshelf. He was asked quite directly if he had any land mines, as 'these are banned you know'. Regardless of the legal situation, he didn't have any anyway, so it went no further. It may be that he (Border Force fellow) was ignorant of his own rules..........& I suppose it would explain why some dealers openly sell mines at shows.

Couldn't resist it Roger......"I suppose you have to be careful where you tread" :lol:

Talking landmines, if you want to watch an extremely good true film, about young German soldiers in 1945 clearing the beaches of hundreds of thousands of landmines in Denmark where they believed the invasion could be!!!
Called LAND OF MINE Brilliant

Roger, I've done a bit of digging and you may be correct. See legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/33

The Landmines Act 1998 suggests you are correct, however it makes no mention of inert items. It refers to component parts, but again no definition. It's probably of those that still needs to be mulled over in court.
There are hundreds of dummy and practice mines for sale online, but I wouldn't fancy being a test case for it, not with a max sentence of 14 years.

I think I might start telling some mates to rethink their wallclocks!

Hi Roy. Thanks. I wasn't sure, but a good friend of mine is one of the army's more experienced EOD technicians (he's also a shooter of Enfields & a renowned battlefield archaeologist) & he had indicated along those lines. It seems ridiculous for it to apply to long obsolete & empty stuff, but as you say, it probably needs a test case to establish a precedent. Not that I would envisage a queue of volunteers forming up!

It's a long time ago, & things have changed drastically, but I used to spend a lot of time in the Channel Islands metal detecting. I inadvertently happened upon S mines relatively commonly, although they were all (fortunately) mines that had been lifted, the dets & bursting charge removed, & the pots then thrown back into the ground & buried. I gather when Force 135 (I think it was 135) reached the islands they enlisted some of the German troops to lift & make safe all of the mines that they'd laid, under RE supervision. Sounds like this was probably a standard scenario, given the above comments about the Germans also being used to undo their own handiwork in Denmark!

The same happened in the UK Roger. All airfields in the UK had pipe mines buried at an angle under the runways and surrounding land. The idea being, in the event of an invasion, they were all detonated and instantly all airfields were unusable.
At the end of WW2 they were cleared by Canadians, the story goes they were told once the clearance was complete they would be sent home. It was done in record time (that's the story anyway)

In the early 80's a farmer ploughing his field (an old wartime airfield) detonated a mine and was either killed or injured.
This was the beginning of Operation Crabstick, the removal of all pipelines from existing and old British airfields by 33 (EOD) Regs, RE

I am not sure if they have finished yet, but I expect so. I was involved in a South Coast International Airport clearance in 1989 on Op Crabstick. All the pipelines were still in situ, albeit all/most of them were empty, some in several parts.

One was half under the main runway. It was decided it was too expensive to dig up, so we concreted in the exposed half and covered it up again. It is still there.

Chucking empty mines back in holes makes sense at the time, but 30-40 years later things get twitchy!

The registration requirement only applies to EU spec deacts: “Firearms which were deactivated prior to 8 April 2016 are not covered by these provisions until such time as they are transferred”.

Thanks for that Mark, took me a while a to decipher and digest the whole legislation, even contacted another forum member to make sure I'm not loosing the plot.
I just cant understand the logic in registering something that is a very nice looking door stop........ what will they think of next ?

"Deactivated forearms" eh?

There's many a slip twixt the couch and lip.:D

Quote:

---

The same happened in the UK Roger. All airfields in the UK had pipe mines buried at an angle under the runways and surrounding land. The idea being, in the event of an invasion, they were all detonated and instantly all airfields were unusable.
At the end of WW2 they were cleared by Canadians, the story goes they were told once the clearance was complete they would be sent home. It was done in record time (that's the story anyway)

---

Interesting story; what's the source?

I suspect the ‘logic’ behind it is that anything that makes deacts less desirable to own, but doesn’t involve paying compensation to the owners is fine by the Home Office. However, I assume it is being widely ignored out in the real world.