From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Section 48 of the Firearms Act 1968:
>
> "(1) A constable may demand, from any persom whom he
> believes to be in possession of a firearm or ammunition
> to which Section 1 of this Act applies, or of a shot
> gun, the production of his firearm certificate or,
> as the case may be, his shot gun certificate.
>
> (2) If a person upon whom a demand is made under this
> section fails to produce the certificate or to permit
> the constable to read it, or to show that he is
> entitled by virtue of this Act to have the firearm,
> ammunition or shot gun in his possession without
> holding a certificate, the constable may seize and
> detain the firearm, ammunition or shot gun and may
> require the person to declare to him immediately his
> name and address.
>
> (3) If under this section a person is required to
> declare to a constable his name and address, it is
> an offence for him to refuse to declare it or to
> fail to give his true name and address."
>
> Steve.
Yes, but this man was arrested. The law says the officer
can seize the guns but not arrest the person. If someone
was stopped in the street in possession of a firearm and
no cert it might be reasonable to assume that he would
not be likely to give his real name and address, if the
guns were illegally possesed. This man was on his own
property however, so there would not be good grounds to
detain him as they knew who he was.
Jonathan Laws.
--
Yes, but it's an offence under Section 2 to have a
shot gun without a certificate, so they could arrest
him for that if he refused to produce one. Obviously
they do look pretty stupid for not checking with the
licensing dept. The police did not do anything
criminally wrong by arresting him, although arguably
they could be held liable in civil court for being
so dense. I'm still pretty amazed that anyone could
get money out of the police for wrongful arrest on
this one, I suspect the police thought settling
was better than defending.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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