Variations on a theme

In Northern Ireland you can do one-for-one variations at a firearms dealer. Why can’t we do that in the rest of the UK?

David says: The law in NI is different from that in the rest of the UK. In NI they operate a ‘banded system’. Rifles, including air rifles, are divided into four bands covering 24 calibres.

You can carry out a one-for-one transaction at a dealer provided both guns are in the same band and the new gun is not the same calibre as the old. Only rifles conditioned for quarry shooting or for dual quarry and target shooting may be changed under the scheme. It seems to me to have considerable merit and is something we should consider on the mainland.