Early history The concept of legislating the use and ownership of weapons goes back at least as far as 1285 (
13 Edw. 1) when the teaching or practice of fencing with a buckler was banned in the City of London. In 1305 the
Statute of Arms stipulated the weapons that could be carried or used at a tournament of knights. This stated that not even a knight could bring a pointed sword, and his attendants were not permitted to wear or have a dagger. Throwing spears was banned in 1383 (
7 Ric. 2. c. 13), and in 1388 servants, apprentices, and labourers were banned from wearing a sword in public except in time of war (
12 Ric. 2. c. 6). The '''''' (
3 Hen. 8. c. 3) banned foreigners from having or using a
longbow in England, and also banned them from taking bows or arrows out of the country. The first legislation to specifically mention firearms was the '''''' (
6 Hen. 8. c. 13), which prohibited the use of hand guns by anyone who did not own land with an income of at least forty
marks per year. The same rule also applied to
crossbows. There was an exception for those who lived on a ship, or within seven miles of the sea, or "upon any of the English Marches foranenst Scotland", when a gun or crossbow was permitted to defend one's home or town. The land value threshold was amended to £100 by the '
(14 & 15 Hen. 8. c. 7), and these rules were repeated in the ' (
25 Hen. 8. c. 17). The provision that persons living within twelve miles of the border between England and Scotland were permitted to use crossbows and demyhake for the defence of their homes was repealed by the
Union of England and Scotland Act 1606 (
4 Jas. 1. c. 1). In 1534, as a result of dissent within Wales to King
Henry VIII proclaiming himself head of the
Church of England, it was made illegal by the
Marches in Wales Act 1534 (
26 Hen. 8. c. 6) for any Welsh man or anyone in Wales to take a weapon of any sort, "any bill, longebowe, crosbowe, handgon, swerde, staffe, daggare, halberde, morespike, speare, or any other maner of weapon", to any public assembly, fair, market, church, or meeting, or within two miles of any court. By 1541 the increased variety of handheld firearms required new legislation and it was then made illegal to own any "handgun
hagbutt or demy hake, or use or kepe in his or their houses or elsewhere any handgun hagbut or demy hake", except for those owning land worth more than £100. These weapons were required to be at least three feet long (91.4 cm), unless they were a "hagbutt or demyhake", when the minimum length was three-quarters of a yard (68 cm). In addition, under the '
(33 Hen. 8. c. 6) these weapons could be used only for firing at a bank of earth, a butt, or a mark, and not for shooting game. The ' (
2 & 3 Edw. 6. c. 14) stipulated that no one less than a member of the
House of Lords could fire a handgun within any town or city, that 'hayleshot', or any other form of shot that delivered more than one pellet at a time, was banned entirely. The prescribed penalty was a £10 fine and 3 months in prison. Anyone wishing to fire a handgun had to register with a justice of the peace first. The purpose of this was given as that the king might know where in the country armed men were to be found should he need them for any purpose. This is not yet gun licensing, but owner registration. In 1592, John Baseden of
Tenterden, a miller, was fined under this statute. The Hail-shot Act 1548 was repealed by the
Militia, etc. Act 1694 (
6 & 7 Will. & Mar. c. 13). The preamble in that act said that however useful the Hail-shot Act 1548 might have been when passed, it had now fallen into disuse; it needed repealing because a number of malicious prosecutions citing this act had been launched. The '''''' (
4 & 5 Phil. & Mar. c. 2), passed when England was at war with both Scotland and France, stipulated that everyone with property, including "anye Honoures Lordeshipes Manours Houses Landes Meadowes Pastires or Wooddes", over certain thresholds had to provide specific numbers of horses, armour and weapons, including hagbutts, "for the better furniture and defence of this Realme". Everyone worth more than £1,000 had to have six horses suitable for knights in armour, complete with saddle and harness, ten more horses for light cavalry, forty sets of armour, forty pikes, thirty longbows, thirty sheaves of arrows, thirty metal helmets, twenty halberds, twenty hagbutts, and twenty salets. Men with lesser amounts of property were required to provided fewer weapons, so that a man whose property was valued at £20 had to provide one set of armour, one longbow with one sheaf of arrows, one steel helmet, and one hagbutt. There is no mention of whether or not these men had to be registered, but anyone living in Wales was excused finding a hagbutt, and had to replace each weapon with a longbow and sheaf of arrows. Furthermore, these hagbutts were to be used only in accordance with the existing Cross-bows Act 1541 (
33 Hen. 8. c. 6) and could not be carried on the public highway unless going to or from a muster or to war.
1600–1714 In 1603, in response to the low number of prosecutions for illegal hunting, the
Game Act 1603 (
1 Jas. 1. c. 27) made it an offence for anyone to shoot, spoil or destroy with any gun, crossbow,
stone bow or longbow any of a long list of game birds including pheasant, partridge, heron, mallard, teal, wigeon, and grouse, offenders to be sentenced to three months in the common gaol or pay a fine of twenty shillings for each bird. A specific exception was made that any person who kept hawks may shoot with a hand gun or "birding piece," crows, chough, rooks, doves, jays and other small birds for feeding hawks, but that shooting must not occur within six hundred paces of any heronry or one hundred paces of any pigeon house. In 1660, on disbanding the army after the
Civil War and the
restoration of the monarchy, the Disbanding of the Army Act 1660 (
12 Cha. 2. c. 15) stipulated that all horse and foot soldiers should "deliver up their Armes" except swords, and that no soldier shall, "ride or travell with any fire armes upon paine of losing his said Armes and of imprisonment dureing his Majestyes pleasure." The
Militia Act 1662 (
14 Cha. 2. c. 3), entitled
An Act for ordering the Forces in the several Counties of this Kingdom, passed shortly after the
Restoration, enabled and authorised, by warrant, local government personnel to search for and seize all arms in the custody or possession of any person or persons whom the government judged dangerous to the peace of the kingdom. It prohibited the search of rural houses during the night hours. It made it lawful in case of resistance to enter by force. Furthermore, it allowed for the restoration of seized arms. Additionally, the act authorised recruitment into the militia of men with an income of £100 per year or more. Foot soldiers in the militia were authorised to be armed with a musket "the Barrell whereof is not to be under three Foot (91 cm) in length and the Gage of the Bore to be for twelve Bulletts to the pound," and they should bring with them to each muster half a pound (225 g) of gunpowder. Horse soldiers were authorised to be armed with "a Sword and a case of Pistolls the Barrells whereof are not to be under fourteen inches (35 cm) in length," and should bring with them a quarter pound (115 g) of powder. The
Better Ordering the Forces Act 1663 (
15 Cha. 2. c. 4) ordered that each musketeer should bring with him to each muster, exercise, or training, half a pound (225 g) of powder and half a pound of bullets, that each musketeer with a matchlock should bring three yards (2.75 m) of match, and that every horseman should bring a quarter pound (115 g) of powder and a quarter pound of bullets. The act also clarified that these items were to be paid for by the Lieutenant of the County, who was personally responsible for raising, mustering, and exercising the troops who could not be required to undergo more than fourteen days training per year. The
Game Act 1670 (
22 & 23 Cha. 2. c. 25) stipulated that ownership of a gun or a bow (and ownership of certain other poaching apparatus and equipment including lowbells, harepipes, and snares) was restricted to those with land or tenements in their own or their wife's name that brought in an income of £100 per year or more, or with a lease of ninety-nine years or more on land with an income of £150 or more. The act also authorised gamekeepers registered with the
justice of the peace to obtain a warrant to search the property of anyone not authorised by the act to keep a gun, for anything restricted by the act and to seize and destroy the same. The
Billeting Act 1679 (
31 Cha. 2. c. 1) disbanded the army, with soldiers required to return their arms and ammunition. Foot soldiers were directed to march away with their clothes, sword, belt and knapsack only, while horse soldiers were additionally entitled to their horse, saddle and bridle, while, "all other Armes shall be then delivered up as is before directed." The '''''' (
1 Ja. 2. c. 8) made it an offence to import guns, ammunition, gunpowder or "Utensills of Warr" without a licence. It was also an offence to obtain such a licence and sell the imported merchandise to anyone other than the "Publique Stores of his Majestie." The
Papists (No. 2) Act 1688 (
1 Will. & Mar. c. 15.) made it an offence for a
Roman Catholic to own, possess, hold or use any arms, weapons, ammunition or gunpowder. A catholic was defined as anyone who refused to take an oath declaring that
transubstantiation did not happen at the
eucharist. The act also authorised any two or more justices of the peace to issue warrants for the constable, the tythingman, or their deputy, to search the property of any person refusing to take the oath, and seize any arms, weapons, gunpowder or ammunition in their possession or custody, and deliver them to the lieutenant of the county for the use of the militia. It was also an offence to hinder the search, to conceal items from the searchers, or to fail to reveal items not discovered when searched for, all of which were punishable by three months in the county gaol. Following the
Glorious Revolution, The
Bill of Rights 1689 clarified that ownership of firearms remained as it had originally been defined in the Cross-bows Act 1523, as restated in the Cross-bows Act 1541, the Militia Act 1662, and the Game Act 1670, that ownership and possession of firearms was restricted to those who owned land worth £100 or more. But that in accordance with the Papists (No. 2) Act 1688, this only applied to Protestants. No Catholic was permitted to own, hold or use firearms, ammunition, or gunpowder. The rights of English subjects and, after 1707, British subjects, to possess arms was recognised under English common law. Sir
William Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England, were highly influential and were used as a reference and text book for English common law. In his
Commentaries, Blackstone described the right to arms: Formerly, this same British common law applied to the UK and Australia, and until 1783 to the colonies in North America that became the United States. The
right to keep and bear arms had originated in England during the reign of
Henry II with the 1181
Assize of Arms, and developed as part of common law.
1715–1899 After the
Jacobite rebellions of
1715 and
1745, harsh laws providing, amongst other things, for disarming the
Highlands of Scotland were enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain: the
Disarming Acts of 1716 and 1725 and the
Act of Proscription 1746. Some high-profile assassination attempts using firearms occurred in the 19th century, such as the
assassination of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in 1812 and
Edward Oxford's attack on Queen Victoria in 1840, but those events led to changes in treason legislation (
Treason Act 1840) rather than firearm controls. The first British firearm controls were introduced as part of the
Vagrancy Act 1824 (
5 Geo. 4 c. 83), which was set up in a reaction against the large number of people roaming the country with weapons brought back from the
Napoleonic Wars. It allowed the police to arrest "any person with any gun, pistol, hanger [a light sword], cutlass, bludgeon or other offensive weapon ... with intent to commit a felonious act". It was followed by the
Night Poaching Acts 1828 and 1844, the
Game Act 1831 (
1 & 2 Will. 4 c. 32), and the Poaching Prevention Act 1862 (
25 & 26 Vict. c. 114), which made it an offence to shoot game illegally by using a firearm. The '''''' (
33 & 34 Vict. c. 57) was created to raise revenue. It required a person to obtain a licence to carry a gun outside his own property for any reason. A licence was not required to buy a gun. The licences cost 10 shillings (), lasted one year and could be bought over the counter at post offices.
Pistols Act 1903 The
Pistols Act 1903 (
3 Edw. 7. c. 18) was the first to place restrictions on the sale of
firearms. Titled "An Act to regulate the sale and use of Pistols or other Firearms", it was short, with just nine sections, and applied solely to pistols. It defined a pistol as a firearm whose barrel did not exceed in length and made it illegal to sell or rent a pistol to anyone who could not produce a current
gun licence or
game licence, unless they were exempt from the Gun Licence Act 1870, could prove that they planned to use the pistol on their own property, or had a statement signed by a
police officer of
inspector rank or above or a
justice of the peace to the effect that they were about to go abroad for six months or more. The act was more or less ineffective, as anyone wishing to buy a pistol commercially merely had to purchase a licence on demand over the counter from a
Post Office before doing so. In addition, it did not regulate private sales of such firearms. The legislators laid some emphasis on the dangers of pistols in the hands of children and drunkards and made specific provisions regarding sales to these two groups: persons under 18 could be fined 40
shillings (£2, ) if they bought, hired, or carried a pistol, while anyone who sold a pistol to such a person could be fined £5. Anyone who sold a pistol to someone who was "intoxicated or of unsound mind" was liable to a fine of £25 () or three months'
imprisonment with
hard labour. However, it was not an
offence under the act to give or lend a pistol to anyone belonging to the two groups.
Firearms Act 1920 The
Firearms Act 1920 (
10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 43) was partly spurred by fears of a possible surge in crime from the large number of firearms available following World War I and also fears of working-class unrest in this period. "An Act to amend the law relating to firearms and other weapons and ammunition", its main stated aim was to enable the government to control the overseas arms trade and so fulfil its commitment to the 1919 Paris Arms Convention. The ongoing
Anglo-Irish War may also have been a factor, as Britain and Ireland were at that time still in union with each other, and the act also applied to Ireland. It required anyone wanting to purchase or possess a firearm or ammunition to obtain a firearm certificate. The certificate, which lasted for three years, specified not only the firearm but also the amount of ammunition the holder could buy or possess. Local chief constables decided who could obtain a certificate and had the power to exclude anyone of "intemperate habits" or "unsound mind", or anyone considered "for any reason unfitted to be trusted with firearms". Applicants for certificates also had to convince the police that they had a good reason for needing a certificate. The law did not affect smooth-bore guns, which were available for purchase without any form of paperwork. The penalty for violating the act was a fine of up to £50 (equivalent to £) or "imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding three months", or both. The right of individuals to bear arms had previously been, in the words of the 1689 Bill of Rights, "as allowed by law". The Firearms Act 1920 made this right conditional upon the Home Secretary and the police. A series of classified Home Office directives defined for the benefit of chief constables what constituted good reason to grant a certificate. They originally included self-defence.
Firearms Act 1937 The
Firearms Act 1937 (
1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. 12) incorporated various modifications to the Firearms Act 1920 based on the recommendations of a 1934 committee chaired by Sir
Archibald Bodkin. The resulting legislation raised the minimum age for buying a firearm or airgun from 14 to 17, extended controls to shotguns and other smooth-bore weapons with barrels shorter than (later raised by the
Firearms Act 1968 to ), transferred certificates for machine guns to military oversight, regulated gun dealers, and granted chief constables the power to add conditions to individual firearms certificates. In the same year, the Home Secretary declared that self-defence was no longer a suitable reason for applying for a firearm certificate and directed police to refuse such applications on the grounds that "firearms cannot be regarded as a suitable means of protection and may be a source of danger".
Firearms Act 1968 The
Firearms Act 1968 (c. 27) brought together all existing firearms legislation in a single statute. Disregarding minor changes, it formed the legal basis for British firearms control policy until the
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (c. 45) was put through Parliament in the aftermath of the 1987
Hungerford massacre. For the first time, it introduced controls for long-barrelled shotguns, in the form of shotgun certificates that, like firearm certificates, were issued by an area's chief constable in England, Scotland, and Wales. While applicants for firearms certificates had to show a good reason for possessing the firearm or ammunition, it did not apply to shotgun certificates. Firearms and ammunition had to be kept locked up in a secure place approved by the local police firearms officer. The act also prohibited the possession of firearms or ammunition by criminals who had been sentenced to imprisonment; those sentenced to three months to three years imprisonment were banned from possessing firearms or ammunition for five years, while those sentenced to longer terms were banned for life. However, an application could be made to have the prohibition removed. The act was accompanied by an
amnesty; many older weapons were handed in to the police. It has remained a feature of British policing that from time to time a brief firearms amnesty is declared.
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 In the aftermath of the
Hungerford massacre, Parliament passed the
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (c. 45). This confined semi-automatic and pump-action centre-fire rifles, military weapons firing explosive ammunition, short shotguns that had magazines, and elevated both pump-action and self-loading rifles to the Prohibited category. Registration and secure storage of shotguns held on shotgun certificates became required, and shotguns with more than a 2+1 capacity came to need a firearm certificate. The law also introduced new restrictions on shotguns. Rifles in
.22 rimfire and semi-automatic
pistols were unaffected.
Firearms (Amendment) Acts 1997 Following the
Dunblane massacre, Parliament passed the
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 (c. 5) and the
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 (c. 64), defining "short firearms" as Section 5 prohibited weapons, which effectively banned private possession of handguns almost completely in Great Britain. Exceptions to the ban include muzzle-loading guns, pistols of historic interest (such as pistols used in notable crimes, rare prototypes, unusual serial numbers, guns forming part of a collection), guns used for starting sporting events, signal pistols, pistols that are of particular aesthetic interest (such as engraved or jewelled guns), and shot pistols for pest control. Even the UK's
Olympic shooters fell under this ban; shooters could only train in
Northern Ireland (where the ban did not apply), or outside of the UK, be that in the
Crown Dependencies (made up of the
Channel Islands and
Isle of Man), or in foreign nations (in
Switzerland, in practice). Prior to the 2012 London Olympics, British Shooting negotiated an agreement with the Home Office to issue Section 5 permits to a limited number of nominated elite athletes, allowing them to keep pistols and train on the UK mainland at nominated "Section 5 Ranges". This agreement was renewed following the Olympics and Section 5 permits remain on issue for eligible members of the GB squad. 162,000 pistols and of ammunition and related equipment were handed in by an estimated 57,000 people – 0.1% of the population, or one in every 960 persons. At the time, the renewal cycle for FACs was five years, meaning that it would take six years for the full reduction of valid certificates for both large-calibre and .22 handguns bans (because certificates remained valid even if the holder had disposed of all their firearms). On 31 December 1996, prior to the large-calibre handgun ban, there were 133,600 FACs on issue in England and Wales; by 31 December 1997 it had fallen to 131,900. On 31 December 2001, five years after the large calibre ban, the number had fallen to 119,600 and 117,700 the following year. making a GB total net drop of 30,041. However, while the number of certificates in England and Wales rose each year after 2002 to stand at 126,400 at 31 March 2005 (due to a change in reporting period), those in Scotland remained relatively static, standing at 26,538 at 31 December 2005.
Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 The
Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 (c. 38) mainly impacted upon firearms legislation by creating minimum sentences for some firearms offences, regulating the sale of primers and provisions relating to imitation firearms. From 6 April 2007 the sale and transfer of new "
air weapons" by mail order ("by way of trade or business") became an offence (they may still be purchased in person), as well as the sale of primers, and realistic imitation firearms (RIFs). The only exceptions are for the purposes of military and historical reenactment, media and theatre production, paintballing, and
Airsoft as a sport. This has affected
Airsoft in the UK by restricting the sale, import and purchase of airsoft replicas to individuals entitled to a specific defence, e.g. members of an organised airsoft site holding permitted activities with third-party liability insurance cover or re-enactors.
Offensive Weapons Act 2019 At the bill stage, the
Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (c. 17) proposed to amend Section 5 (Prohibited Weapons) of the 1968 act with three new classes: •
Bump stocks • "Rapid firing" MARS and lever-release rifles (not to be confused with
lever action rifles, which remain legal) The final item for consideration was high muzzle energy firearms. This was intended to target rifles in
.50 BMG calibre that are "capable of 10,000 foot pounds [] of muzzle energy". However, this criterion would also apply to some British hunting calibres. This proposal never made the final act. There were several proposed amendments to include further restrictions on all firearms and the licensing of airguns in England and Wales, none of which were adopted. Air weapons and high muzzle energy firearms were also part of a public consultation in December 2020. The outcome of the consultation was published in July 2022. == Gun crime ==