S.I. No. 451/2006 - Firearms Act 1925 (Surrender of Firearms and Offensive Weapons) Order 2006

Statutory Instruments

S.I. No. 451 of 2006

Firearms Act 1925 (Surrender of Firearms and Offensive Weapons) Order 2006

I, MICHAEL MCDOWELL, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 25A (inserted by section 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 (No. 26 of 2006)) of the Firearms Act 1925 (No. 17 of 1925), hereby order as follows:

1.        This Order may be cited as the Firearms Act 1925 (Surrender of Firearms and Offensive Weapons) Order 2006.

2.        The period commencing on 1 September 2006 and ending on 31 October 2006 is appointed as a specified period for the purposes of section 25A (inserted by section 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 (No. 26 of 2006)) of the Firearms Act 1925 (No. 17 of 1925).

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Order provides, in accordance with section 46 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 for an amnesty period during which firearms, flick-knives and weapons of offence may be surrendered to the Garda Síochana. While persons surrendering such weapons will not be charged with offences relating to their simple possession surrendered weapons will be forensically tested and where found to have been used in a crime the weapon and the forensic evidence will be admissible in any proceedings subsequently brought. A “weapon of offence” means any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to or incapacitating a person, or intended by the person having it with him or her for such use, and includes any knife.