In drawing up these recommendations, the Committee started from the premise that public safety considerations must be uppermost, and those arms which are commonly used in crime should remain subject to certificate control irrespective of age. In their 1999 Annual Report, the FCC suggested that a number of calibers have lapsed into obsolescence and might properly be added to the list. The 1992 guidance suggested that a number of vintage firearms might be considered for ‘antique’ status if they were chambered for cartridges long considered obsolete. Following advice from the Firearms Consultative Committee (FCC), the Government issued further guidance in a circular letter to chief officers on 19 November 1992. Guidance was issued by the Home Office in paragraph 2.7 of ‘Firearms Law: Guidance to the Police’ in 1989, suggesting that a range of vintage firearms might be considered for ‘antique’ status (‘vintage’ for those purposes means manufactured before 1939). No licence needed for old muzzle loaders. In issuing guidance on this matter, the Home Office has always taken the view that this term should be taken to cover those firearms of a vintage and design such that their free possession does not pose a realistic danger to public safety. The Act does not define the term ‘antique’, and it is for the chief officer of police and for the Courts to consider each case on its merits. Section 58(2) of the Firearms Act 1968 exempts from the provisions of the Act – including certificate controls under Sections 1 and 2 and prohibition under section 5- antique firearms which are sold, transferred, purchased, acquired or possessed as curiosities or ornaments. This is the guidance which the Home Office has given to the police about antique firearms:
If your gun is on the list you do not need a licence to own it as a ‘curio’ or ‘ornament’.
A full list of these Section 58Obsolete Calibres can be found below: They require no licence, as long as certain conditions are upheld. Under British Law, certain firearms – rifles, shotguns and hand guns included, are not considered to be ‘weapons’ in the legal sense.
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