Recorded Crimes and Offences Involving Firearms, Scotland, 2020-21 and 2021-22

Annex 5: Legislation

1. Contraventions of Scottish criminal law are divided for statistical purposes into crimes and offences. “Crime" is generally used for the more serious criminal acts; the less serious termed "offences", although the term "offence" may also be used in relation to serious breaches of criminal law. The distinction is made only for working purposes and the "seriousness" of the offence is generally related to the maximum sentence that can be imposed.

2. Following the Dunblane incident in 1996, changes to the existing firearms legislation were introduced to enhance public safety. As a result, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 (the ‘1997 Act’) was implemented and thereafter the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 (the ‘1997 (No. 2) Act’). Under the 1997 Act, all pistols (otherwise referred to as “handguns”) over .22 calibre were banned with effect from 1 October 1997. The 1997 (No. 2) Act came into effect from 1 March 1998. A number of types of handgun were exempted from the 1997 (No. 2) Act, including muzzle-loading guns, shot pistols, slaughtering instruments, firearms used for the humane killing of animals, trophies of war, etc.

3. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 raised the age for owning an air weapon from 14 years to 17 years; created a new offence of possessing an air weapon or imitation weapon in a public place without reasonable excuse; banned future import and sale of air weapons using self-contained air cartridge systems and licensed those already held. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 also imposed minimum sentences for the illegal possession of a prohibited firearm.

4. In relation to individuals aged under 18 years, the following legislation has been introduced:

• The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 raised the minimum age at which a person may purchase or hire either an air weapon or ammunition for an air weapon to 18 years.
• The EU Weapons Directive 91/477/EEC made it an offence to sell or let on hire a firearm or ammunition to a person under the age of 18 years.
• The Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015 came into force on 31 December 2016 which makes provision for the licensing and regulation of air weapons. Statistics are presented here for both the years 2017-18, the first full year for which statistics are available, to 2020-21, the most recent year for which data are available, as well as for January to March 2017 (Table 17a).