Latest U.K. Deact update

[LES Y]

Here is a link to the latest update from the U.K. Govt re public consultation/Deact control.
I had a quick read through it and it doesn't appear there is any intention to ban deacts.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documen...vated-firearms

Les

[kompanie]

Thanks for the link Les

[Adrian Stevenson]

They won't ban them simply because it would cost too much.

However, one possible problem would be forcing owners of pre 1995 deacts to pay for them to be "upgraded" to new spec post 1995 condition. This would cost about £200 per gun. Their estimate of this overall cost to collectors varies from over £100,000 to £62 MILLION!

These proposals need to be fought. They are not needed and as usual penalise the law abiding collector.

Cheers, Ade.

[Time Bandit]

Yep, I agree with Ade as to the 'upgrade' of pre' 95 stuff. I don't think it was ever their intention to ban deacts as such (even if they would like to) because of all the hassle and costs but I can very well see them trying to sneak something in which would make people have their pre '95 deacts be converted to the later spec, in fact if you read a lot of the stuff that has been said they don't seem to have any problem at all with the post '95 deacts it's just the earlier ones.

I hope it doesn't happen and I hope everyone fights against it, but since the problem, in my eyes, is that whilst all deact collectors are against it I imagine we are out numbered many times over by the 'general public' who really couldn't give a **** if pre '95 deacts are converted, or in their eyes, even better, are banned or whatever and in alot of cases they view us as a bit weird for wanting to collect the things? Just got to make sure it's our views they take into account and not the sheep who as soon as gun is mentioned all run about shouting 'ban them'...

[Tim G]

Re Deacts

I agree that taking action against pre 95 is basically purile and a waste of time.

It is also bang out of order to expect the owner to foot the cost of any remedial action they deem required. They are the ones trying to change the goal posts not the owner. What they have failed to register is the owner will recieve a double whamy by virtue of the fact the actuall value of the ex pre 95 deact will be chopped by nearly if not 2/3. I have few if any pre 95 items but i know that some purists have a surprising quantity and the collection is the basis of thier nest egg or retirement fund.

To change the law and require the vendors to register as fire arms dealers is the most disgusting cop out i have ever seen. To become a dealer you have to apply via the police. The police are thier to uphold our laws not be in control of them. We all know that it is basically a cottage industry and decentralised to the county forces for licences. Some are draconian because the C.o.P, is rabidly anti gun , some are more reasonable. The same applies to individual officers who visit under the inspection regimes. Thierfore a totally distorted system would be in place ,controlled by the association of chief police officers and you can be assured that few would get a license if they do not hold one already. This whole scenario is based on the info from the county chiefs of police. Most of thier argument is not actually based on fact but pure supposition. The facts they do have show that a tiny amount of deacts are involved and the proposed action is way over the top. Thier own paper work shows that not all items siezed or obtained from crime are examined by the FSS. If they are not even doing that, then quite frankly thier argument is based on guesswork. As a furthur example of thier amatuerish approach a simple search of the internet would reveal that the average price of a deactivated weapon is somewhat more than £ 350.00.

Having also spent and encouraged the universe to demonize the basic concept of a firearm they also insult us and state catagorically that " Due to the freedom of information act" they will not garantee to protect your identity home address etc. Ergo, they will not get the feedback they require and make or state the false assumption that we do not care what happens because we did not " engage " with them. Quite frankly they have proved that they are incapable of looking after the info anyway.

About the best you can hope for is that an international standard is reached from the mupets in europe ..........god knows what that would look like.

Thier is a government report that was conducted that interviewed guys convicted of gun crime. They were quite happy to talk as they had already been grabbed as it were and no names were asked for .

The preference was for small hand guns , 9mm if possible. Modern and blingy chrome as it appealed to the gang culture thing. Short autos were mentioned along the lines of MAC10,Uzi . They scoffed and laughed at revolvers and WW2 stuff as clunky and old fashioned. Even the converted brockoks are based on the 9mm style and format. Re activated handguns were mentioned as things to avoid if at all possible as they could not be trusted and were likley to injure the individual using it.

[Time Bandit]

As a furthur example of thier amatuerish approach a simple search of the internet would reveal that the average price of a deactivated weapon is somewhat more than £ 350.00.

Considerably more if it's just pre '95 deacts, which are likely to be the ones that are going to be targeted, that are priced up.

Surely even the thickest of Plods can work out that yer average criminal ain't going to go out and pay maybe two grand for a deact MP40 just to have it reactivated (which will probably cost him more dosh as I doubt most would be doing a diy job?) when they can probably lay their dirty little mitts on an AK47 or suchlike that has been smuggled in from the Eastern block for a whole lot less? I imagine a live AK probably would cost them a damn sight less than a pre '95 deact AK (not sure what one of them would go for but I presume that whilst not in the deact MP40/MP44 type price range they still wont be cheap?). I guess the same would apply to hand guns also, probably get a live one cheaper than a deact?