As the proposed Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 as proposed by the Home Office goes through the legislative process at Parliament, the UKARA plans to meet with the Home Office to discuss the inclusion of 8mm BBs as originally recommended by the Law Commission. Only 6mm BBs are allowed for the airsoft exemption in the proposed bill. Frank Bothamley, UKARA Chairman, sends in an update:

Just an update about the Law Commission review of Firearms Act.

The law commission firearms law report was released two months ago, the Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 has had its first reading in the UK parliament recently.

UKARA then got to see what had been written in the first draft of the Policing and Crime Bill 2016 by the Home Office and were very surprised that the airsoft RIF definition only included 6mm diameter bbs.

UKARA had worked with the Law Commission and a highly regarded firearms consultant (who was paid for by UKARA). The consultant is a ex-Deputy Chief Constable and ex ACPO FLWG Chairman.

We attended several meetings in London and the consultant represented airsoft on the panel of speakers that were speaking at the Law Commission Symposium.

UKARA also wrote a detailed 3 page report explaining about airsoft and the affects of the lethality wording changes.

For some unknown reason the Home Office chose only to include part of the definition that was supplied to them. As a result of the wording in the new Bill only mentioning 6mm, UKARA has arranged a meeting with the Home Office to talk about the possibility of amending the wording.

We are looking to put a case for getting 8mm diameter bbs included in the definition.

Along with UKARA the Firearms consultant will also be paid to attend.

We will keep you posted about the progress of the Bill and the results of the meeting.

Thanks,

Frank
UKARA Chairman