Handguns In England

S

SGW Gunsmith

Moderator
Has something changed over the last few years whereby folks in the UK can now own handguns?
Seems I read something from around 2011, or so, that still banned private ownership of handguns, and I even read recently that hunting knives with longer than 3-inch blades were also outlawed.
 
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2013/02/17/more-uk-legal-pistols/

Technically speaking, pistols are apparently legal in the UK as long as they have a barrel longer than 12″ and a total length longer than 24″. Semi-autos are banned unless they are chambered .22 LR. UK target shooters have cooked up some interesting modifications to make their pistols legal.

The pistol above is Dave’s GSG 1911 pistol. It is fitted with a longer barrel and a permanently attached faux suppressor. The counter weight attached to the magazine well increases the total length of the gun (while also balancing the extra weight of the longer barrel and fake suppressor).
Click to expand...
 
I have some old English gun magazines (printed) when Barnes and Noble carried them. They were full of strange guns for handguns allow way back in the 90's IIRC.

One thing though, the writers made fun of our shooting sports for using humanoid IDPA, IPSC targets. Said it was because we were blood thirsty.

Don't the English pistol teams have to practice on the Channel Islands where the laws don't apply?
 
Also (and please correct me if I'm wrong) but even handguns that meet the legal standards for ownership cannot be kept at home. They must be stored (and secured) at an approved gun club or with the local police.
 
When using the term UK (United Kingdom) it implies all of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland); however, Northern Ireland, has their own gun laws due to the Good Friday Agreement between Northern Ireland and the UK.

Although Northern Ireland has restrictive gun laws, they are not as restrictive as the rest of the UK. However, hand guns are allowed and certificates must be obtained to purchase one. They do allow the use of the term personal protection not allowed in the other three countries in the UK. One point is even if a resident of Northern Ireland has a permit to have a handgun, they cannot carry it to any of the other UK countries of the country of Ireland.
 
As I recall, handguns aren't illegal. It's just really, really, really difficult to get the licence and the laws are subject to interpretation by local unelected civil servants with badges.
British law defines a "pistol" as a firearm with a barrel shorter than 30cm(12") or a total length of less than 60cm(24"), not barrel longer than 12″.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/firearms
"...the Channel Islands..." Are part of England.
English knife laws were discussed recently on another forum, forget which. Basically you can't carry any kind of knife without a valid, to an unelected civil servant, reason.
 
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