Firearms (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1924
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Number 9 of 1924. | ||
FIREARMS (TEMPORARY PROVISIONS) ACT, 1924. | ||
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS | ||
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Number 9 of 1924. | ||
FIREARMS (TEMPORARY PROVISIONS) ACT, 1924. | ||
AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION DURING A LIMITED PERIOD FOR THE PLACING OF RESTRICTIONS ON THE IMPORT, MANUFACTURE, AND POSSESSION OF, AND DEALING IN, FIREARMS AND OTHER WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES IN RELATION TO FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION. [5th April, 1924.] | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:— | ||
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Definitions. |
1.—In this Act— | |
the expression “firearm” means any lethal firearm or other weapon of any description, from which any shot, bullet, or other missile can be discharged, or any part thereof, and the expression “ammunition” means ammunition for any such firearm, and includes grenades, bombs, and other similar missiles, whether such missiles are capable of use with a firearm or not, and ingredients and components thereof; | ||
the expression “firearm licence” means a licence issued to a named person pursuant to regulations made or continued under this Act authorising that person to have possession of, use, and carry a specified firearm and a specified quantity of ammunition therefor; | ||
the expression “firearms dealer” means a person who manufactures, repairs, proves, tests, sells, or otherwise deals in firearms or ammunition by way of trade or business; | ||
the expression “registered firearms dealer” means a firearms dealer who is registered as such pursuant to regulations made or continued under this Act. | ||
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Minister for Home Affairs may make regulations. |
2.—(1) The Minister for Home Affairs may by regulations made under this Act— | |
(a) provide for the issue of firearm licences and prescribe the persons or classes of persons to whom firearm licences may be issued; | ||
(b) authorise specified persons or classes of persons to have in their possession, use, or carry, either generally or for particular purposes or subject to particular conditions, any firearm or ammunition or any particular class of firearm or ammunition without having a firearm licence; | ||
(c) prescribe the persons by whom and the terms and circumstances on and in which firearm licences may be issued, and the form and duration of such licences; | ||
(d) require every firearm in respect of which a firearm licence is issued to be marked with a number or other identification mark, and require such number or mark to be entered in the firearm licence and in the register of firearm licences; | ||
(e) provide for the establishment and maintenance of a register of firearm licences; | ||
(f) provide for the establishment and maintenance of a register of firearms dealers and prescribe the terms and circumstances on and in which a person may be registered in such register and on and in which such registration may be cancelled or refused; | ||
(g) place restrictions on the sale of firearms and ammunition, and prohibit the pawning of firearms; | ||
(h) place restrictions on the export, import, or removal from one place to another, of firearms and ammunition; | ||
(i) empower members of any police force in Saorstát Eireann to demand the production of and to inspect firearm licences, and, without warrant, to arrest persons suspected of committing offences against the regulations and to search places in which it is suspected that such offences are being committed; | ||
(j) confer on officers of Customs and Excise and officers of the Post Office the like powers in relation to firearms and ammunition as such officers respectively have by law in relation to other articles the export or import of which is prohibited or restricted; | ||
(k) prescribe the punishment which may be imposed on a person convicted of having committed a breach of any regulation made or continued under this Act, but so that no such punishment shall exceed the punishment authorised by this Act to be imposed on a person convicted of having committed a breach of any such regulation; | ||
(l) provide for the forfeiture of any firearm or ammunition in respect of which a breach of a regulation made or continued under this Act is committed. | ||
(2) Every regulation made under this section shall be forthwith laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and if either House shall, within twenty-one days on which such House has sat next after the regulation is laid before it, pass a resolution annulling the regulation, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder. | ||
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Prohibition of possession of firearm without licence. |
3.—(1) So long as this Act remains in force it shall not be lawful for any person to have in his possession, use, or carry a firearm or any ammunition save in so far as such possession, user, or carriage is authorised by regulations made under this Act or is authorised by a firearm or other licence issued under such regulations. | |
(2) Every person who shall have in his possession, use, or carry a firearm or any ammunition in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and be punishable accordingly. | ||
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Prohibition of manufacture, etc., of firearms or ammunition save by registered firearms dealers. |
4.—(1) So long as this Act remains in force it shall not be lawful for any person who is not a registered firearms dealer to manufacture, repair, test, prove, or sell, or to have in his possession or expose for sale, any firearm or ammunition. | |
(2) Every person who shall manufacture, repair, test, prove, or sell, or have in his possession or expose for sale, any firearm or ammunition in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and be punishable accordingly. | ||
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Prohibition of import, etc., of weapons for discharge of noxious liquids, etc. |
5.—(1) On and after the passing of this Act it shall not be lawful for any person, without the authority of the Minister for Defence, to import, manufacture, sell, purchase, carry, or have in his possession, any weapon of whatever description, designed for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas, or other thing, or any ammunition containing or designed or adapted to contain any such noxious thing. | |
(2) If any person contravenes the provisions of this section he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and be liable on conviction on indictment to suffer penal servitude for a term not exceeding five years or imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding two years. | ||
(3) Officers of Customs and Excise and officers of the Post Office shall have the like powers in relation to weapons and ammunition mentioned in sub-section (1) of this section as such officers respectively have by law in relation to other articles the import of which is prohibited or restricted. | ||
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Punishments. |
6.—Any person who commits an offence under this Act or commits a breach of any regulation made under this Act and in respect of which no punishment is prescribed by any such regulation shall be liable in respect of each such offence or breach— | |
(a) on summary conviction thereof to be sentenced to suffer imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding six months and may in addition be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding twenty pounds and, in default of payment of such fine within one month after conviction, to suffer imprisonment without hard labour for a further term not exceeding two months to be added to and commence on the expiration of the first mentioned term of imprisonment; or | ||
(b) on being found guilty thereof on indictment to be sentenced to suffer imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding two years and may in addition be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and in default of payment of such fine within one month after sentence, to suffer imprisonment without hard labour for a further term not exceeding six months to be added to and commence on the expiration of the first-mentioned term of imprisonment. | ||
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Savings for military and police and for antique weapons, and for enactments relating to explosives. |
7.—(1) Nothing in this Act or in any regulation made under this Act shall apply to any firearm or ammunition belonging to or issued to, or in the possession of, a member of the Defence Forces of Saorstát Eireann or of a police force in Saorstát Eireann as part of his arms or equipment as such member, or to the possession, user, or carriage of any firearm or ammunition by any such member in the performance of his duty as such. | |
(2) Nothing in this Act relating to firearms shall apply to an antique firearm which is sold, bought, carried, or possessed as a curiosity or ornament. | ||
(3) The provisions of this Act relating to ammunition shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any enactment relating to the keeping and sale of explosives. | ||
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Short title and duration. |
8.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Firearms (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1924. | |
(2) This Act shall continue in force for one year after the passing thereof, and shall then expire. |
