Part 6: Firearms and pyrotechnic articles Section 126: Firearms Act 1968: meaning of "antique firearm"
Section 58 of the 1968 Act exempts antique firearms from most of the prohibitions and restrictions imposed by that Act, but does not define "antique" firearm. Home Office guidance (Guidance on Firearms Licensing Law, April 2016, Chapter 8 and Appendix 5) currently includes lists of obsolete calibres, ignition systems and antique air weapons manufactured before 1939.
	Subsection (2) inserts new subsections (2A) to (2H) into section 58 of the 1968 Act to define an antique firearm by reference to either a description of the cartridge with which its chamber is capable of being used or a description of its propulsion system. In addition, such a description can be refined to provide that the firearm must either have been manufactured before a certain date, or a specified number of years must have elapsed since the firearm was manufactured. These descriptions will be specified in regulations. New section 58(2G) provides that these regulations will be made by statutory instrument (subject to the affirmative procedure) when first made, and when further obsolete cartridges or propulsion systems are added to these regulations. New section 58(2H) provides that a statutory instrument that only amends regulations previously made by way of removing a description of a cartridge or a propulsion system from these regulations will be subject to the negative procedure.
	Subsection (3) amends section 58(2) of the 1968 Act to provide that the offences in section 19 (carrying a firearm in a public place) and section 20 (offence of trespassing with a firearm) of that Act may be committed when in possession of an antique firearm.
	Subsections (4) to (7) set out the transitional arrangements for any firearms that will no longer fall within the definition of an antique firearm following the coming into force of regulations made as described above.
	Subsection (5) disapplies section 5 of the 1968 Act (which makes it an offence to possess a prohibited weapon) for personal possession of a firearm previously considered to be an antique, except for those who are in possession of such firearms for the purposes of trade or business, who will have to apply for a section 5 authority in the usual way.
	Subsections (6) and (7) provide that a person who is in possession of a firearm before it is no longer considered to be an antique firearm must not be refused a certificate (or be refused an application to renew a certificate) on the grounds that he does not have a good reason for possessing the firearm. This is to enable someone whose firearm no longer qualifies as an antique to retain it provided that it is held on certificate.