NI police ‘pause’ policy on licensing rifle magazines

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has ‘paused’ the implementation of a policy that would have forced firearms owners in Northern Ireland to apply for a variation at a cost of £30 every time they wanted to buy a rifle magazine.

The insistence on having each magazine licensed came about from a change in how the force implemented the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004.

Following a meeting with representatives from SACS, BASC Northern Ireland and Country Sports Ireland, the PSNI announced that it will not insist on variations for each magazine purchased while it works out how to take the matter forward.

Ronan Gorman, chief executive of Country Sports Ireland, told Shooting

Times: “Country Sports

Ireland, other representative organisations, and local politicians met with the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 16 February to raise concerns about the new PSNI policy on licensing firearms magazines, which was hastily introduced without any consultation.

“The key outcome of the meeting is that the PSNI have agreed to pause implementation of this policy to give them time to work with Country Sports Ireland and other representative bodies to find a better solution that enables them to meet their legal responsibilities but doesn’t unfairly impact or inconvenience the shooting sports community. We will of course keep members up to date on any developments.”

For now, PSNI will not insist on variations for each magazine bought