Part 4: Possession etc of certain offensive weapons Section 47: Prohibition on the possession of offensive weapons: supplementary
Section 47 makes amendments to the Schedule to the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 (SI 1988/2019). These amendments are, in part, consequential to the amendments made to section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 "(the CJA") by section 46 of this Act. The 1988 Order specifies weapons to which section 141 of the CJA applies and also makes provision for defences to the offence in section 141(1) of the CJA (manufacture, sale or hire of offensive weapons).
	Subsection (2) adds knives known as "zombie knives" to the Schedule to the 1988 Order. The effect of this is to make their manufacture, sale or hire, importation, and possession in private, an offence in Northern Ireland (their manufacture, sale or hire is already prohibited in England and Wales). Subsection (3) adds knives known as "cyclone knives", to the Schedule to the 1988 Order, making their manufacture, sale or hire, importation and possession in private, an offence in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
	Subsections (4) to (7) amend the operation of the defences in the 1988 Order so that they apply to the new offence of private possession of a weapon created by section 46 of this Act in relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland. They also amend the use for "religious ceremonies" defence to permit use for "religious reasons".
	Subsection (8) sets out a new defence to section 141(1) of the CJA for a person of Sikh faith who presents another person with a curved sword (as covered by section 141 of the CJA) in a religious ceremony or other ceremonial event. It also provides a defence to the offence of possession in private for Sikhs possessing such swords for the purposes of presenting them to others at a ceremony and for the recipients (whether a Sikh or non-Sikh) to possess swords that have been presented to them.
	The section also provides a defence for the ancillary acts covered by section 141(1) of the CJA 1988 (manufacture, sale, hire) and section 50(2) and (3) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (importation) where those acts are for the purposes of enabling the gifting by a Sikh to another person by presentation at a religious ceremony or other ceremonial event. These defences enable the lawful ceremonial gifting of large kirpans by the Sikh community.
	Subsections (11) to (14)) make consequential amendments to the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Scotland) Order 2005 (SSI 2005/483).
	This section forms part of the law of the United Kingdom.