Class 1 - Pre-percussion Handgun:
A
pre-percussion handgun includes
all antique firearms less than 75 cm in length
that is a muzzle loading firearm activated by a
fuse, matchlock, wheel lock, snaphaunce,
flintlock or miquelet lock.
All pre-percussion handguns do
not require licensing or registration.
THE SNAPHAUNCE
WLB are not conceding much here - consider the
period in which these mechanisms originated
Class 2 - Antique Handgun:
An antique handgun includes all
firearms, manufactured before 1 January 1901,
less than 75 cm in length, other than a
pre-percussion handgun that is one of the
following:
All antique handguns must be
registered. Whilst any person in possession is
not required to be
licensed - their firearms may be
registered to an existing collectors licence. It
is an offence to be
in possession of an unregistered Antique
Handgun.
Class 3 - Collectable Handgun:
A
collectable handgun includes all
firearms less than 75 cm in length, manufactured
on or after 1
January 1901 but on or before 31
December 1946, that is of obvious and
significant commemorative,historic,
thematic or investment value.
All collectable handguns are
required to be registered to a licence. Any
person in possession is
required to hold a collector's licence. Persons
currently holding temporarily inoperable
collectable handguns under a collectors licence
are required to become members of an approved
historical society by 31 December 2003.
Class 4 - Modern Collectable
Handgun:
A
modern collectable handgun means
a category H weapon manufactured on or after 1
January 1947 that is of obvious and significant
commemorative, historic, thematic or investment
value.
All modern collectable handguns
are required to be registered. Any person in
possession is
required to hold a collector's
licence, endorsed with a condition permitting
the possession of post 1946 handguns.
To obtain this licence condition you must
identify your prolonged and genuine interest in
the study, preservation or collection of
firearms.
Persons currently holding temporarily inoperable
modern collectable handguns under a collector's
licence are required to become members of an
approved historical society by 31 December 2003.
Licensing and
Registration Procedures
Antique Handguns:
Persons holding antique handguns
are now required to give written notice to the
Weapons Licensing Branch on or before 31
December 2003 with the following information:
1. the person's name and address;
2. the type, make, calibre,
action, magazine capacity and any serial number
of the antique
handgun;
3. the place where the handgun is
generally kept;
4. the approximate year of
manufacture;
Collectable and
Modern Collectable Handguns:
Persons holding collectable and
modem collectable handguns also need to provide
written notice to the Weapons Licensing Branch
on or before 31 December 2003 with the following
information for each handgun listed on their
Collector's Licence:
1. the person's name and address,
2. the type, make, calibre,
model, action, magazine capacity and any serial
number
of the handgun,
3. the place where the handgun is
generally kept,
4. the year of manufacture,
5. a letter documenting the
obvious and significant commemorative, historic,
thematic or investment
value of the weapon
(documentation must be
provided
to substantiate this claim)
6. identify your prolonged and
genuine interest in the study, preservation or
collection of modern collectable handguns.
Permanently inoperable
Category H weapons:
Any handguns manufactured on or after 1 January
1901, which have been rendered permanently
inoperable, are only required to be registered
to a collector's licence. Licensees are not
required to address points 5 and 6 above.
(This figures - the process of rendering a
weapon permanently inoperable is such that it is
designed to destroy not just the weapon, but
also any value it might have had.)
Now, here's a bit of bureaucratic
leverage. The WLB standard letter (presumably
sent to all of the muggins' who had registered
the guns that they had been assured they did not
have to hold a licence for must now be licenced)
now attached a list of all Category H
handguns. From this list they were required to
identify which one of the 4 classes of
Collectors handguns their firearm(s) fell within
and its year of manufacture.
This places
an obligation upon weapons owners to classify
their weapons into sub-categories
(thereby allowing WLB at a
later stage to allege that "the information
supplied by the Defendant (that's you!)
was incorrect and misleading in that it falsely
included the weapon was a (insert class
here) when the weapon was in fact a
(insert the WLB preferred class here.)
