Firearms licensing: sound moderators

Statement

The Government is today publishing its response to the public consultation that was undertaken by the previous Government on a proposal to remove the firearms accessory known as a sound moderator from firearms licensing controls. The consultation ran between 21 February to 2 April 2024.

A sound moderator can be attached to a rifle barrel to reduce the sound and flash when the rifle is fired. It reduces the sound of the shot by around three quarters and accordingly these accessories are used to protect shooters’ hearing, to reduce the disturbance to others in the vicinity of shoots and to stop shooters being temporarily blinded by the muzzle flash of a shot. They are entirely inert objects containing no moving parts and do not of themselves create a risk to public safety. They are, however, currently defined as a firearm in the Firearms Act 1968 and therefore they are subject to the requirement to be licensed by the police.

The Government has decided to remove sound moderators from the requirement to be licensed, and that by doing so, it will not create any public safety risk nor impact in any way on the strength of our existing firearms controls. We do, however, see merit in making it a requirement for a person to be in possession of a valid firearms certificate, issued by the police, in order to lawfully possess a sound moderator. This will ensure that these accessories are only held lawfully by those with a legitimate purpose.

The public consultation also sought views on whether it would be appropriate to use a Legislative Reform Order, made under section 1 of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, if it were decided to deregulate sound moderators. Having given careful consideration to this, the Government’s view is that it would not be appropriate to use such an Order, given that this will require a change to the legal definition of a firearm set out in the Firearms Act 1968. The Government is therefore of the view that this change should be made through primary legislation, and we will therefore seek to make this change when Parliamentary time allows.

A copy of the government response will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on gov.uk.