Criminal Justice Act 1967

PART V Firearms

85 Prohibition on possessing or acquiring a shot gun without a certificate.

(1) Subject to any exemption having effect by virtue of this section any person who has in his possession or purchases or acquires a shot gun without holding a certificate authorising him to possess shot guns shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) Any such certificate (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as a shot gun certificate) shall be granted by the chief officer of police unless he has reason to believe that the applicant—

(a) is prohibited by the [1937 c. 12.] Firearms Act 1937 from possessing a shot gun ; or

(b) cannot be permitted to possess a shot gun without danger to the public safety or to the peace;

and a shot gun certificate may be revoked by the chief officer of police for the area in which the holder resides if the officer is satisfied that the holder is so prohibited or cannot be permitted to possess a shot gun as aforesaid.

(3) A shot gun certificate shall—

(a) be in the prescribed form ;

(b) be granted or renewed subject to any prescribed conditions and no others ; and

(c) specify the conditions, if any, subject to which it is granted or renewed.

(4) Any person who fails to comply with any condition subject to which a shot gun certificate is held by him shall be guilty of an offence.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a fine not exceeding £200 or both.

(6) In Scotland, a contravention of this section which, if it had been triable on indictment, could competently have been libelled as an additional or alternative charge in an indictment charging a person with an offence involving any injury or attempted injury of, or any threat or intent to injure, any person or property by the use or attempted use of a firearm, may, notwithstanding anything in this section, be so libelled and tried.

(7) The following provisions of the Firearms Act 1937, that is to say, sections 2(1), (4) and (8) to (10), 3(1), 4, 5, 6, 11(1), (3) and (4), 14, 15, 25 and Schedule 2 (provisions relating to firearms to which Part I of that Act applies, that is to say firearms other than shot guns and air weapons) shall apply in relation to shot guns and shot gun certificates as they apply in relation to firearms to which the said Part I applies and firearm certificates, but shall so apply subject to the following modifications and exceptions:—

(a) the reference in section 2(4) of that Act to the foregoing provisions of that section shall be construed as including a reference to subsection (2) of this section;

(b) the following paragraph shall be added at the end of section 11(1) of that Act (prohibition on transferring firearm to person not producing certificate):—

“(c) a person returning to another a shot gun which he has lawfully undertaken to repair, test or prove for the other.”

(8) Any person who has been in Great Britain for not more than thirty days in all in the preceding twelve months may have in his possession, or purchase or acquire, a shot gun without holding a shot gun certificate.

(9) A person may without holding a shot gun certificate use a shot gun at a time and place approved for shooting at artificial targets by the chief officer of police for the area in which that place is situated.

(10) A person may without holding a shot gun certificate borrow a shot gun from the occupier of private premises and use the shot gun on those premises in the presence of the occupier.

(11) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to a person holding a firearm certificate issued in Northern Ireland authorising him to possess a shot gun.

(12) Without prejudice to section 30(d) of the [1937 c. 12.] Firearms Act 1937 (rules for delegating the functions of a chief officer of police in specified circumstances) the functions of a chief officer of police under that Act, the [1965 c. 44.] Firearms Act 1965 or this Part of this Act shall be exercisable on any occasion by a person, or a person of any particular class, authorised by the chief officer of police to exercise that function on that occasion or on occasions of that class or on all occasions.

(13) Notwithstanding anything in section 2(4) of the Firearms Act 1937 (duration of firearms certificate), a shot-gun certificate issued before the expiration of six months from the date of the commencement of this Act shall continue in force for such period from that date or from the date when it is granted, whichever is the later, as may be specified in the certificate by the chief officer of police (being a period of not less than one year but not more than five years).

86 Restrictions on gifts of shot guns.

(1) No person shall make a gift of any shot gun or ammunition for a shot gun to any person under the age of fifteen.

(2) Any person who contravenes the foregoing subsection shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50; and the court by which he is convicted may make such order as to the forfeiture or disposal of the shot gun or ammunition in respect of which the offence was committed as the court thinks fit.

(3) In any proceedings for an offence under this section committed by making a gift of a shot gun or ammunition to a person under the age of fifteen it shall be a defence to prove that the defendant believed the other person to be of or over that age and had reasonable ground for the belief.

87 Amendment of enactments relating to firearms.

(1) In section 2(4) of the [1937 c. 12.] Firearms Act 1937 (period of validity and renewal of a firearm certificate) after the words " three years " where they first occur there shall be inserted the words " or such shorter period as may be prescribed " and after those words in the second place where they occur there shall be inserted the words " or a further prescribed period ".

(2) In section 8(1) of the said Act of 1937 (registration of firearms dealers), in paragraph (a) of the proviso, for the words from " or subsection (5) " to " the said subsection (5) " there shall be substituted the words " or by order of a court in Northern Ireland made under section 8(5) of the [1920 c. 43.] Firearms Act 1920 ".

(3) In section 12(3) of the said Act of 1937 (power of constables and others to call for and inspect register of firearms transactions kept by a dealer), paragraph (c) and the words " in each case " shall be omitted.

(4) In section 16(1)(a) of the said Act of 1937 as amended by section 9(1) of the [1965 c. 44.] Firearms Act 1965 (exemption of shot guns from the provisions of Part I of the said Act of 1937) at the end there shall be added the words " not being an air gun " ; and accordingly those words shall also be added at the end of the definitions of shot gun in section 4 of the [1962 c. 49.] Air Guns and Shot Guns, etc., Act 1962 and section 10 of the said Act of 1965.

(5) In section 19 of the said Act of 1937 (provisions to prevent minors from having firearms)—

(a) for subsection (2) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—

“(2) No person shall make a gift of or lend any firearm or ammunition to which Part I of this Act applies to any person under the age of fourteen.”

(b) for the words in subsection (1) from " to any other person " to the end, and for the words in subsection (3) " to any other person whom he knows or has reasonable ground for believing to be under the age of fourteen years " there shall be substituted in each case the words " to any person under that age " ;

and at the end of the section there shall be added the following subsection:—

“(4A) In any proceedings for an offence—

(a) under subsection (1) of this section committed by selling or letting on hire a firearm or ammunition to a person under the age of seventeen years; or

(b) under subsection (2) committed by making a gift of or lending a firearm or ammunition to a person under the age of fourteen years; or

(c) under subsection (3) committed by parting with the possession of a firearm or ammunition to a person under the age of fourteen years,

being in any of those cases an offence committed after the coming into force of section 86(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1967, it shall be a defence to prove that the person charged with the offence believed the other person to be of or over the age of seventeen years or, as the case may be, fourteen years and had reasonable ground for the belief.”

(6) In section 24 of the said Act of 1937 (shortening shot guns and converting imitation firearms into real) for references to a smooth bore gun there shall be substituted references to a shot gun; and in subsection (4) of the section for the words " or a firearm which has been converted as aforesaid " there shall be substituted the words " contrary to subsection (1) of this section, or a firearm which has been converted contrary to subsection (2) ".

(7) Rules under section 30 of the said Act of 1937 (general power to make rules)—

(a) may require any application for a firearm certificate or shot gun certificate to be accompanied by a photograph of the applicant;

(b) may require the verification in the prescribed manner of any prescribed particulars and of the likeness of any such photograph to the applicant;

(c) may make different provision for different cases.

(8) In section 32(1) of the said Act of 1937 (interpretation) after the definition of " offence under this Act " there shall be inserted the following definition:—

• “' premises ' includes any land”.

(9) For subsection 1(1) of the [1962 c. 49.] Air Guns and Shot Guns, etc., Act 1962 (restrictions upon the use and possession of air weapons) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—

“(1) No person shall make a gift of any air weapon or ammunition for an air weapon to any person under the age of fourteen”.

(10) In section 3(1) of the said Act of 1962 (penalties for offences under that Act) for the words from " imprisonment for a term " to " fine or both) " there shall be substituted the words " a fine not exceeding £50 ".

(11) Any reference in the said Act of 1962 to a person's having any description of firearm or ammunition in his possession shall be construed as a reference to his having it with him.

(12) In section 7 of the [1965 c. 44.] Firearms Act 1965 (increase of penalties for offences under the Act of 1937) after the words " offence under'' there shall be inserted the words " or punishable under ".

88 Supplemental.

(1) In this Part of this Act " shot gun " means a weapon specified in section 16(1)(a) of the [1937 c. 12.] Firearms Act 1937.

(2) Any reference in Part III of the said Act of 1937 to that Act shall be construed as including a reference to this Part of this Act.