Firearms Lethality
Section 57(1) of the 1968 Act defines a firearm as a "lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged". However, the legislation does not define lethal in this context. In the absence of legislative guidance, the courts have failed to define the term "lethal" with any degree of precision. The current test can be found in R v Thorpe (1987).24 In that case the judge stated that "The test is this. It must be capable of causing injury from which death might – and the word is 'might' – result if it is misused."
	Section 125 gives effect to the Law Commission’s recommendations (at paragraphs 2.29 and 2.43 of its report) that for the purposes of section 57(1) a weapon should be considered lethal if:
	"it is capable of discharging a projectile with a kinetic energy of more than 1 joule as measured at the muzzle of the weapon for the purposes of section 57(1) of the Firearms Act 1968".
	The Law Commission also recommended that an exempting provision should be created:
	"exempting airsoft guns from the scope of the 1 joule kinetic energy threshold which deems a barrelled weapon to be lethal."
	Airsoft is a skirmishing game in which players shoot small spherical plastic missiles at opponents from imitation firearms using compressed air. The exemption is not absolute: it stipulates slightly higher kinetic energy thresholds of 1.3 joules for automatic type weapons and 2.5 joules for single shot variants. These limits have been set following scientific testing on the wounding potential of airsoft weapons operating at and above or below these levels.