Blank Gun Laws?

All a bit silly really because if someone wanted to do some kind of criminal act using a replica something like a Fargo wells sawn off shotgun ( stage coach gun )
Would be just about the most believable convincing thing to use.
Or just use an air pistol / rifle looking identical to a modern full bore firearm.

 

Why couldn't they have invented the colt SAA 4 years earlier, then I wouldn't need to buy some stupid orange looking one

 

@Glockwomble did you ever pick up one of those Retay Black/Blue G17's, if so what are your thoughts on it, i'm quite interested in one..

 

So today the Mrs purchased me a Retay Mod 92 for my collection from a shop on the front in Blackpool, she said instead of just showing her I.D. like I did with mine last time this time the store took a copy of her details and the serial number of the gun. Apparently the police have emailed all the stores and have stated that it is now a required procedure due to the fact that the Retay's have been found to have been converted.

 

So, just to summarise:

1. Anyone over 18 can buy a blank firing gun, in person or via the post.

2. You don't legally have to provide your details, but the police have advised sellers to take them.

3. Anyone eligible to buy a blank gun can be sold any colour of blank gun that is modelled after a pre-1870 design.

4. For blank guns that copy a design younger than 1870 (eg. Colt Python, Glock, Beretta 92, PP7 etc.) the normal RIF sections of the VCRA apply. So, anyone can be sold a 50%+ orange/blue etc. blank gun of post-1870 design, but to be sold a black one you need a defence under the VCRA.

5. You cannot run around with a blank gun in a public place any more than you can any other RIF, airgun or other firearm, but you can technically fire them in your garden (you just might get a visit from plod) .

Edit: And it goes without saying, that all blank guns must be UK legal, meaning top or side venting as close to the tip of the cartridge as is technically possible, and plugged barrels.

 

I have seen guys who do competitive balloon bursting (quick draw). The guns used for this appear to exit the barrel via a pepperpot bung in the barrel. How is that legal?

 

I can't see how that can be UK legal under normal provisions. Perhaps they have some sort of special authorisation?

 

It might have been mentioned already (I read held of the posts and that was enough, without finding this), but regular civilians can also go into hardware stores here in the UK and purchase different power levels (3 at last look) for nail-guns, and from GunShops for those Gun Dog trainer launchers..


ATB ..... and shoot safely
.

 

There is a caveat in law for baloon bursters.
The forward discharge must not be more than 1/8th the diameter of the cartridge measured just in front of the rim and where possible,the discharge must not be direct (so it goes through a baffle system)
The cartridge base in front of the rim must not exceed 1 inch in diameter (so no 20mm canon ballon bursters I'm afraid)

Just to really mess it up, lasers weapons (literally pulsed rifles) aren't illegal as they do not discharge a "noxious bullet,shot or any missile" as photons have no mass so kinetic energy cannot be measured

And to play with folks heads a little more, direct shock nail guns that apply the impulse direct to the base of the nail (spit type rather than Hilti captive piston) get past the firearms laws as they have no barrel yet will blast a hardened nail 3 inches into concrete.

Our gun laws are a complete mess brought about by patching rather than rewriting.

Ps:it is legal to convert the RusMilitary AK's into blank firers, they have never been a firearm so there is no "down classing", legally they are considered replicas (Maket is russian for "model)

 

Where's the exemption for balloon bursters? I see baffles and so on talked about every so often, but I've never found a single mention in the most current law. Specifications for blank guns changed in or around 2011*. Those regulations stipulate what blank pistols, rifles and revolvers (being IFs) must adhere to, and the wording of those regulations doesn't allow for any forward discharge so far as I can see, irrespective of whether its baffled or not. Could this be another situation where either a blind eye is turned or law has changed and people's understanding of the law has yet to catch up?

*https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/1754/made

 

Section 37(2) theatrical performance