Originally Posted by
Roger Payne
Re post #11. Roy, I don't know how much the situation has changed amongst newer dealers, or if new guidance has been received, but there was always an unwritten agreement that firearms being transferred from dealer to dealer would not be expected to be proofed, so long as the dealer at the end of the chain got the weapon proofed before it was sold to an individual licence (FAC) holder. I suspect the literal letter of the law does not say this, but this was accepted. I have bought a lot of rifles over the years from a few of the bigger dealers who import them in large batches with the intention of deactivating all or most of them, or, they sell to other dealers who will do the same. To get a rifle proofed & then deactivate it a month later is a waste of time & money, & even the proof house tacitly recognised this. I'm not trying to excuse selling an out of proof firearm at all, not a bit, but it simply requires the dealer at the end of the line to remember to do it!