Antique firearms loophole to be closed after use in crimes

LOOPHOLES that allow antique firearms to be kept without a licence are to be closed as evidence shows such that weapons are being used in incidents of serious violence.

Some 26,000 guns classed as antiques will have to be licensed, deactivated or surrendered after a Home Office review of the multi-million pound trade.

The move follows evidence from police ballistics experts that weapons and ammunition previously judged to be “obsolete” have been used in gun crimes

The number of antique weapons used in such crimes rose from four in 2007 to 97 in 2016 and has remained at high levels with 69 recovered in 2019. Since 2007, six deaths have been linked to antique firearms. Paul Edmunds, a gun dealer, was jailed in 2017 for supplying antique weapons and modified ammunition reportedly linked to 100 crimes. Of the 280 known firearms he imported, there is currently no trace of 207, suggesting they have become part of the criminal market.

Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, said: “Public safety is our top priority and we cannot allow these dangerous firearms to fall into the wrong hands. The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world – we will do everything in our power to make sure it stays that way.”

The regulations will be laid before the Commons in the coming months, with a vote and then 21 days before they become law. Anyone who fails to secure a licence or does not surrender them will face a maximum sentence of five years in jail, for the unlawful possession of a firearm. All the weapons pre-date Jan 1939.