THE Labour government today indicated new moves towards a possible ban on imitation guns - less than a year after the Home Office appeared to rule out such a measure.
Last May, the Government published a paper which said a wholesale ban on replica firearms would be impractical.
But as new figures showed offences involving imitation firearms rocketed by 66% last year, Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he planned to launch a new consultation on a possible ban.
"We will introduce a flagship Violent Crime Reduction Bill within weeks of the General Election," said Mr Clarke.
"It will tackle the ownership and use of replica firearms and knives, propose tougher sentences for knife and gun crime, and new measures on anti-social behaviour.
"We will consult on banning replica and imitation guns, which account for a high proportion of gun crime."
Last May's document said there were legal difficulties in drawing up such a ban.
For example, experts have struggled with how to prohibit imitation weapons without outlawing water pistols and other toy guns.
"It has proved difficult to find a workable legal definition of an imitation firearm," it said.
"We do not believe that the level of effort required by agencies to administer additional restrictions is offset by public safety gains."
Pointing out that carrying an imitation firearm in public without reasonable excuse was made an arrestable offence under Labour's Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, it added: "We do not therefore propose that imitations are licensed or their sales restricted."
Difficulties
But it did ask for responses on whether imitations should be prohibited.
Home Office minister Caroline Flint said at the time: "I can't envisage a wholesale ban on imitation and replica firearms."
She said there were difficulties in making such a ban an "enforceable reality".
However, Prime Minister Tony Blair later insisted in the House of Commons that a Home Office review of gun laws would be "absolutely open" and would include imitation firearms.
Most other countries do not have bans on imitation weapons but in the Netherlands imitations, even toy guns which resemble the real thing, are subject to licensing.
In 2003 a report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gun Crime called for a complete ban on the import, sale and manufacture of replica firearms.
In London more than half of weapons seized by police are converted replicas.
The Gun Control Network has long backed a ban, and has even drafted legislation to prohibit the sale, importation and manufacture of imitations.
Results of the May 2004 consultation paper are still being considered by the Home Office.
Should replica guns be banned? Have your say.
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Law abiding, Swinton (22/04/2005 at 09:02)
m .harrison, manchester (24/04/2005 at 15:13)
Handguns are outlawed but all the gangsters carry them. The government wants to stop dreaming and sart thinking a much better solution would be heavier sentences for people carrying guns for no practical purpose (e.g. pest control etc). All the government are doing is turning us into a nanny state and we dont want this!!!! Banning handguns deprived people of harmless shooting range fun, banning firearm imitations will deprive people and collectors. If criminals want a gun they will just smuggle them in. Tony Blair deal with the problems not their tools!!
Steve Weston, south east england (24/04/2005 at 19:17)
Just look at the two firearm amnesties where law abiding gun owners handed in their weapons, some of which were worth a great deal of money.
They were promised compensation, most did not recieve a penny.
And with all these 'guns off the streets' is our society any safer?
Of course not, gun crime has gone though the roof and the legal gun owner has been penalised for it.
As usual, the government are going for the easy option, and are not addressing the real issues such as 'no go' areas where the police fear to tread.
Australia has the same problem. They banned handguns and their 'shootings' figures are higher than ever. This problem will not be resolved untill the police's hands are untied and they are allowed and encouraged to do their job properly, without the worry of being sued by every little low-life who might get bruised during his/her arrest.
Give the police the tools and the backing they need, and deserve, and let them get on with the job.
Max, England (24/04/2005 at 23:07)
Annoyed, Manchester (25/04/2005 at 00:45)
Roffles, Cambridge (25/04/2005 at 02:25)
i did used to support labour, but now they just have to go, they want to destroy every hobby one by one
they banned real hand guns, and hand gun crime has been rising ever since, that ban really worked didn't it tony?
they ban imitation guns, crime with imitations guns wont go down either, it will stay the same or go up.
John, Sout East (25/04/2005 at 07:54)
In the 2003 Anti Social Behaviour Act, the Government passed a law that banned a certain type of Airgun that could be converted to fire Live Ammunition. According to the Home Offices own figgures, out of 68,000 in the uk, only 6,000 have been accounted for since the ban...
There are many thousands of legitimate collectors, wargamers, re-enactors and the like in this country who would be unjustly penalised by a ban. The Labour Party uses the phrase "reasonable person" in its document, do "reasonable people" think that criminals and nutters will hand in their replicas after a ban?. 16 people died at Dunblane, and they banned hanguns How many died at Hillsborough, how many did Fred West kill, Harold Shipman?
It is a real shame that the press is allowing itself to be so easily distracted by the Labour spin machine" away from knife crime and drugs. a replica ban is just a media friendly "talk policy" when whad we need are "action policies"
Peat, James, Buckinghamshire (25/04/2005 at 17:24)
To put it bluntly, if a criminal* is brandishing a replica, then the only person who is going to be hurt is the criminal. If the criminal is brandishing a real weapon [which would logically become more provailent in the hands of low-level criminals if replicas were banned], then many more people could be harmed.
Not to mention the thousends of people who use replicas at the weekend in a game similar to paintballing, they have never harmed anyone. Why should their hobby be destroyed by a few thugs?
If the Government has nothing better to spend it's energy on, then it should look at the NHS or the Education system, which both need drastic attention spend on them. A simple, harmless, bb gun should not be an issue for the government.
*Under current legislation [2003 Anti-Social behaviour act], carrying a replica is an offence punishable by 6 months in prison and a B#1000+ fine.
Law-Abiding Replica Owner, Bristol (25/04/2005 at 19:33)
Once again, the government is demonstrating its penchant for knee-jerk legislation without actually looking into the REAL effects enacting a ban on replicas would have.
Firstly, there are many replica owners such as myself who are law-abiding and upstanding members of society (like the vast majority), and collect replicas as either curios or for use in the completely responsible, legitimate and LEGAL combat-sport known as "Airsoft".
In addition, the replica industry is the basis of the livilhoods of many people up and down the country; who do not advocate their use for violent and illegal acts. Again, the government has overlooked such people, and have instead, listened to biast and misinformed pressure groups.
Individuals such as ourselves resent being tarred with the same brush as those who commit crimes with replicas. The problem at hand are the criminals, not the tools they misuse.
steve, Dundee (25/04/2005 at 20:05)
Koss, Northampton (25/04/2005 at 20:10)
Mark, Lancashire (26/04/2005 at 14:18)
Current legislation, in my opinion, is more than enough to deal with firearms offences whether a replica or real firearm was used. If someone wants to go waving an imitation gun around in public then the response is swift and decisive. If the miscreant complies with the armed response's commands then no shots need be fired. Better and increased community Police presence would not go amiss here, I think.
All the handgun ban did was make law-abiding citizens hand in their guns. Very easy to check up on because these citizens were registered and already known to the authorities. I doubt the criminal element would make such a mistake of actually legally registering a firearm.
In addition, the previous knee-jerk reaction of banning the Brocock pistols hasn't worked very well has it? Approximately a paltry one tenth of the pistols sold in the UK have been handed over. Plenty left for the criminals to convert to fire more powerful ammunition.
Speaking of conversion, NONE of the airsoft weapons we use can be converted to fire anything more lethal than the 6mm diameter PLASTIC pellets which the guns are designed for. The guns themselves are constructed from plastics and cheap,weak metals. Materials not well known for withstanding the explosive forces encountered from a real bullet.
I do hope the prospective Government put their efforts into more worthwhile issues.
Thank You.
Steve Mackenzie, Ayr, Scotland. (26/04/2005 at 17:06)
These weapons are only used on formally designated recreational sites by very responsible individuals of all ages (I'm 51) and from ALL walks of life, including the Police, Military and Medical professions to name a few.
It would be very, very wrong and wholly unjust to tar all replica gun owners as criminals or unstable by the actions of a few irresponsible idiots or real criminals.
Airsofters realise only too well that their subject is a sensitive one, but nonetheless want their sport to thrive and as such have no problem complying with any regulations set before them, but to enforce a ban without any consultation is to deny thousands, yes thousands of responsible UK people access to a sport they have been enjoying for years without breaking the law or compromising the safety of the general public. Thank you.
Gareth, Stoke-on-Trent (26/04/2005 at 23:11)
Granted there are people who use replicas to commit crimes but surly it is not the inanimate object that commits the crime it is the criminal. More people per-year are hurt, injured and killed by cars, smoking and drugs. Drugs are illegal but they still get used by thousands of people everyday. Sub-machine guns have been banned since the 1930's and still they are used to kill and injure people. So making something illegal will not cancel the problem or make it go away.
At the end of the day if you walk into a bank with a bannana in your coat pocket or a drainpipe in a plastic bag you can still rob it. So whats next banning of bannanas and drainpipes?
Alistair, Australia (01/05/2005 at 19:01)
Adam, Kent (05/05/2005 at 20:21)
Dan Breen, Peterborough (06/05/2005 at 09:37)
An attempt at banning replicas, (what is a replica anyway?), would just turn into yet another expensive white elephant that the tax payer, (you and me) , will end up paying for. How much in terms of Parliamentary time, consultation fees and publicity costs would it take for the bill to be introduced and the act to be passed and how many extra Police would it pay for instead? How many teachers or Nurses could you pay for with that money instead?
If the press are to be believed, you can buy a real gun from a bloke in the pub for B#50, that's cheaper than ANY of the replicas I own.
You don't cure a cold by cutting someones nose off to stop them sniffing, and you won't deal with gun crime, (real gun crime that involves people being injured and killed), by banning childrens toys. That's all a ban on replicas will achieve, and we will pay the bill for it.
Paddy, Hertfordshire (08/05/2005 at 08:23)
The "shooting community", unlike the general public, know about guns such as the "Welrod" (looks like a plumbing pipe with a handle), the "Deer Gun" (looks like a glue gun) the "Liberator" (looks like it is made out of scrap metal), there are others, the "Owen", the "Bizon" and the "P90" etc, only recognisable as guns to enthusiasts and historians, but reasonable none the less.
Anyone whith reasonable woodwork skills (do they still teach that in schools?) could make a "Glock" or "Mac 10" using wood from B&Q and Paint from Halfords. The irony is, that the "antis", by restricting access to shooting by the general public, have created a populace who cannot recognize a "real" gun. They have also falsely promulgated the belief that any replica can be converted to fire live ammunition...wrong... "Brockocks" could, but they were Airguns, not replicas, and they have been banned - unfortunately, 60,000 of these banned weapons are unacounted for according to the Home Office. The reason Labour are focusing on replicas is because "Emperors New Clothes Syndrome" is preventing them from admiting their politicaly motivated dogma is wrong, and the Post-Dunblane/Post-Hungerford firearms restrictions have not reduced crime. Their total arrogance that they are right means that in their world, gun crime must be down to replicas because they have "taken the guns off the streets" (Tony Blairs own words in 1997)...
J.Magee, Berkshire (13/05/2005 at 16:15)
Legislation already exists to protect the public from these being displayed in public.
A ban would be both un-workable and un-fair to responsible law abiding adults.
martin, chester (17/05/2005 at 15:19)
Andy, york (18/05/2005 at 00:01)
Paddy, Hertfordshire (19/05/2005 at 10:23)
1. Criminals will buy red guns, then buy Black spray paint...
2. In the US, Criminals have painted real guns, to confuse Police Officers.
3. Banning Replicas is just a media induced spin solution, it will not deal with the root cause of the problem: Drugs, poor parenting, lack of visible Policing, failure of Communnties to take due blame instead of blaming unemployment and bad schools.
4. A recent report by Her Majesties Inspector of Constabulary stated "it is well documented that criminals do not hand in guns during amnestys and hand-ins".
The Government and Politicans are looking for a scapegoat, and rather than upsetting communities and losing votes by saying "why did you let your kids grow up in to thugs", they are saying "its not your fault, vote for us and we will pass new laws to make the problem go away"...
Veiko, Manchester (19/05/2005 at 11:11)
Now let's face it, our police force isn't exactly kitted out to deal with people with 7.62mm weapons, so I say, let the kids weild their imitation weapons.
Airsoft is a sport that involves the use of BB firing, realistic looking, often expensive, replica firearms to engage in an adrenaline pumping war game. It is one of the fastest growing sports in our country with sites all around, multiplying rapidly. Many practitioners of this harmless sport will suffer because of the selfish criminals who use the imitation firearms for the wrong purpose.
Our country should be more focused on looking after the law-abider. Why should laws prohibit the freedom of those who follow the law?
If a criminal breaks into your home, the criminal is better protected by the law than the homeowner...
Perhaps it would be more suitable if we served justice with a stronger fist. Those who break the law, will suffer, those who follow it will be able to live free and happy.
More on-subject, the problem is not the replica, toy-like guns; the problem is the people who get hold of them. If a child is climbing on a sofa and you tell it not to but it persists, do you ban sofas? Or would you discipline the child and move it out of the room to let it learn to obey?
It is time the government concentrated on the rights of the people who follow the law and ensure that those who break it are the ones who suffer.
-Veiko-
Paddy, Hertfordshire (23/05/2005 at 08:16)
Andrew, East Anglia (03/06/2005 at 12:21)