Draft Antique Firearms (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Steven Bonnar Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2021 General Committees

[Steven Bonnar (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. From the outset, I welcome the apology from the Minister, at least in relation to the omission from the previous legislation. We take that in the faith it has been given. The Scottish Government, of course, welcome the new legislation on antique firearm regulation under the Firearms Act 1968.

Two decades ago, the UK witnesses its worst incident of gun-related violence, which prompted the Government to enact the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997. That, of course, stopped Britain from heading down an American-style route of gun ownership and availability.

In Scotland, we again went one step further by introducing the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015, which makes it a criminal offence to have any air weapon without a licence or permit, and can see perpetrators fined or facing up to two years in prison. The tightening of those gun laws in Scotland has undoubtedly made Scotland a safer place for us all to live.

Public safety is and should be paramount for this Government and any Government, and we must question whether they are doing all they can to protect communities from gun crime. The role of police officers keeps expanding, yet numbers of police on the beat are reducing. Has enough thought been paid to whether police forces are getting the resources they require to process extra gun licences?

An individual may not possess, purchase or acquire a shotgun or rifle without a shotgun or rifle firearms certificate. The application process requires an applicant to provide personal information including medical data and contact information for their general practitioner. An applicant must detail their firearm storage arrangements, which are subject to inspection. The applicant must also justify possessing a shotgun or rifle and provide two character references.

The Scottish Government are always hard at work looking for new ways to protect public safety. That is why we introduced tougher measures on air gun control, as I said. In England, a firearms certificate is not required to possess or purchase an air gun. We therefore call on the Government to set their sights further on air gun control—

[The Chair]

Order. I am afraid that the hon. Gentleman is deviating substantially away from the statutory instrument that we are considering, which is a very narrowly defined correction to a previous instrument. He might like to return to the actual matter under discussion.

[Steven Bonnar]

I take your points on board, Mr Gray. The UK Government’s approach to reducing violent crime and knife crime has been inadequate, and that is important to what we are saying—

[The Chair]

Order. The statutory instrument that we are considering is on a particular matter to do with the size of cartridges and a previously made error. Matters relating to knife crime, as mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, and others are important; none the less, they are not remotely in order. He might like to return to the statutory instrument that we are considering.

[Steven Bonnar]

I believe that they are in order in terms of the pressures on police, but I will move on, Mr Gray.

Finally, has the Home Office made any assessment of the potential merits of mandating that a person in possession of an antique firearm hold a certificate of technical obsolescence or proof of the firearm’s irreversibility?