VCR Act 2007
Section 33: Age limits for purchase etc of air weapons and ammunition
- From 1st October 2007, an age limit of 18 will apply to:
- purchasing or hiring an air weapon (section 22 (1) of the Firearms Act 1968)
- having an air weapon without adult supervision etc (section 22 (4) of the 1968 Act)
- selling or hiring an air weapon to a young person (section 24 (1) of the 1968 Act)
- making a gift of an air weapon or parting with possession of an air weapon (section 24 (4) of the 1968 Act)
Sections 31 and 32: Sales or transfers of air weapons
- Section 32 of the 2006 Act requires that air weapons sold to an individual by way of trade or business must be handed over in person.
- Section 32 (2) allows a representative of the seller to be present instead. Section 32 (3) defines a representative as an employee of the dealer, another registered firearms dealer or an employee of another registered firearms dealer. This is intended to avoid the need for a purchaser to travel long distances to a dealer in order to receive an air weapon in person. Instead, the air weapon could, for example, be sent to a dealer nearer to the purchaser so the sale can be completed more conveniently
Section 34: Firing an air weapon beyond premises
- Sections 23 (1) and (4) of the Firearms Act 1968 already make it an offence to fire an air weapon beyond the boundary of premises. However, the offences are limited to young persons and to the adults supervising them. Section 34 of the 2006 Act replaces the existing offences for young people with a new offence for anyone of any age to fire an air weapon beyond the boundary of premises. The offence relating to adults supervising young persons is preserved.
- A defence is provided to cover the situation where the person shooting has the consent of the occupier of the land over or into which he shoots. Consent can be specific or by way of a general consent. The same defence applies to adults supervising young persons
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