Firearms Bill

Debate between Greg Smith and Simon Baynes

2nd reading
Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Simon Baynes (Clwyd South) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

I am honoured to speak in the Second Reading of this private Member’s Bill on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Shaun Bailey), who cannot be here today. The Bill seeks to strengthen further this country’s already robust firearms controls in two important but distinct ways: by introducing a new offence to combat the unlawful manufacture of ammunition by criminals; and by closing a loophole in firearms law so the operator of a miniature rifle range must first be granted a firearms certificate by the police.

The ammunition measure in the Bill helps the police tackle unlawful manufacture by introducing a new offence of possessing component parts with the intent to assemble unauthorised quantities of complete ammunition. The police have raised concerns that the component parts of ammunition are too easy to obtain and are being used by criminals to manufacture whole rounds of ammunition. It might be helpful if I briefly list and explain what the components are and how they go together to make a round of ammunition: the gunpowder, used to propel a projectile from a firearm; the primer, an explosive compound that ignites the gunpowder; the projectile or bullet; and the cartridge case.

Controls on primers are set out in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. Section 35 makes it an offence to sell or purchase primers unless the purchaser is authorised to possess them, for example by being a registered firearms dealer or by holding a firearms certificate authorising them to possess a firearm or ammunition.

Controls on the possession of gunpowder are set out in the Explosives Regulations 2014. The regulations require that, with certain exceptions, anyone wanting to acquire or keep explosives must hold an explosives certificate issued by the police. The projectiles or bullets and the cartridge case are constructed of inert material. Those are not controlled, which can make the prosecution of certain cases by the police difficult. They may believe there is intent to produce ammunition unlawfully, but be unable to progress with certain criminal cases if the materials found are not controlled.

Assembly of ammunition requires various component parts to be used, including the restricted and unrestricted components. The new offence means that the police will be better able to prosecute cases where criminals are manufacturing ammunition, including where only some of the component parts are present, provided that intent is shown. That will be a significant step forward in helping the police to tackle gun crime.

I turn now to the second firearms matter addressed in the Bill, the controls on miniature rifle ranges. It would be fair to say that the current exemption in law for such ranges is a lesser-known area of firearms law. None the less, it is extremely important that we improve the legislative regulation around miniature rifle ranges.

At present, section 11(4) of the Firearms Act 1968 allows a

“person conducting or carrying on a miniature rifle range…or shooting gallery”,

at which only miniature rifles and ammunition

“not exceeding .23 inch calibre”

or air weapons are used, to purchase, acquire or possess miniature rifles or ammunition without a firearms certificate. Additionally, a person can use those rifles and ammunition at such a range without a certificate.

Although the term “miniature rifle” is used in the legislation, the firearms it applies to are lethal guns and are otherwise subject to the requirement for the holder to apply for a firearms certificate in order to possess them. The existing exception in section 11(4) of the Firearms Act means that a person can purchase firearms and operate a miniature rifle range at which others can shoot without a certificate, and therefore without having undergone the usual stringent police checks on a person’s suitability or police assessment of how they will safely store and use the firearm.

The police raised concerns that the exemption is a loophole in firearms law, which is vulnerable to abuse by criminals or terrorists seeking to access firearms and side-stepping the usual robust checks carried out by the police. The miniature rifle range exemption has been in existence for many years and is used extensively by small-bore rifle clubs to introduce newcomers to sport shooting. It is used by some schools and colleges, by activity centres offering target shooting, at game fairs and in a number of other legitimate environments.

Many would be severely affected if the exemption were removed entirely, as they would no longer be able to enable newcomers to try out target shooting in a safe and controlled environment. In recognition of that, the Bill preserves the benefits that the miniature rifle range exemption offers, while bringing in the appropriate controls by making it a requirement that the operator must be granted a firearms certificate by the police, having undergone all the necessary checks on suitability, security and good reason.

The Bill also more tightly defines what may be considered as a miniature rifle by restricting them to .22 rimfire guns, which are lower-powered rifles. There is concern that the current definition in the legislation of

“not exceeding .23 inch calibre”

could allow the use of more powerful firearms, which would not be suitable for use on a miniature rifle range by an uncertificated person, even with the necessary supervision and safety measures in place.

The Government consulted on introducing these two measures in the firearm safety consultation, which ran from 24 November 2020 until 16 February 2021. I am glad to say that both proposals were supported by the majority of respondents: 62% agreed that it should be

“an offence to possess component parts of ammunition with intent to manufacture unauthorised quantities of complete rounds of ammunition”;

73% agreed

“that the operator of a miniature rifle range should be required to hold a firearms certificate”;

and 74% agreed with the proposal to define miniature rifles more tightly to mean less powerful firearms not exceeding .22 rimfire.

Several respondents to the consultation made the point that ranges or shooting galleries in which only lower-powered air weapons are used should not be affected. In other words, there should be no requirement for the operator of an air weapons-only range to hold a firearms certificate; the legislative change should apply only to the more powerful and dangerous rifles about which law enforcement has raised concerns. I can offer a reassurance that it is the more powerful and dangerous licensed firearms that are the focus of the Bill’s changes. It will not alter the position with respect to ranges or galleries that use only lower-powered air weapons, namely air rifles of no more than 12 ft lb and air pistols of no more than 6 ft lb. Air weapons are, however, subject to a licensing regime in Scotland; the Bill will not affect that regime in any way.

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a compelling case. I entirely support the Bill’s aims. Can he give a further reassurance that it seeks to close the loophole and ensure that people are properly checked before they can own and operate such ranges or weapons? In no way, shape or form does it seek to close down such ranges; it just puts better safeguards in place. Engaging in shooting sports and such activities is still fundamentally encouraged.

[Simon Baynes]

My hon. Friend perfectly sums up the Bill’s intent.

The Government response to the public consultation was published on 20 July 2022. It committed to taking measures forward on ammunition and miniature rifle ranges by making

“changes…to primary legislation…when Parliamentary time allows.”

The Bill is a consequence of that commitment to amend legislation to make our firearms laws even more robust, to tackle crime and to continue to improve public safety. I am grateful to the Minister and his officials for their help in preparing the Bill. It gives me great pleasure to commend it to the House.

Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill

Debate between Greg Smith and Simon Baynes

2nd reading
Friday 2nd December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Smith]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He and I share a passion for farming and ensuring that farming is visible and accessible to everyone in our country. He makes an important point about people understanding how food is produced—that the chicken does not get into the plastic box on the shelves in the supermarket by magic and that the cereal does not make itself in a factory, but has to be grown somewhere first. He almost tempts me to get into the amendment I have tabled to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, but I will leave that for when it comes back on Report—as I hear my hon. Friend the Whip encouraging me to do.

Coming back to the subject at hand, pre-fitting quad bikes and ATVs with the means necessary both to prevent them from being stolen and to effectively track any that are stolen will lift a huge weight off the shoulders of our hard-working farmers. The threat is well documented, and it is more widespread and organised than most think. We are not necessarily talking about a couple of opportunists who are bored and looking for something to fill their time; those who are stealing this equipment are predominantly organised criminal syndicates intent on profiteering from high-value theft.

Let me give the House an example. A prominent recent case of agricultural equipment theft saw the successful prosecution of two men for conspiring to steal agricultural global positioning systems and other technical equipment valued at approximately £380,000 from agricultural vehicles on 13 farms and estates across the county of Essex between 28 September and 27 October 2021. Following investigations by Essex police, they were convicted and sentenced to a total of six years and 10 months in prison.

This Bill will prevent the need to pursue this time-consuming and extremely costly legal process by ensuring that the quads and ATVs, and potentially further equipment in due time through secondary legislation, either cannot be stolen in the first place or, through forensic marking, are made less attractive to the would-be thieves. That case took Essex police a considerable amount of time, a lot of investigation and probably hundreds, if not thousands of hours of police time to get that fantastic prosecution. This Bill is about short-cutting that process for our police and ensuring they can get the result and get justice in much faster time.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Ben Everitt) mentioned, Thames Valley police, my own local force and his, reported recently that officers from its groundbreaking rural crime taskforce, which I referred to earlier and which has only been in operation since April this year, has recovered more than 100 items totalling more than £1 million-worth of machinery, tools and equipment, 25% of which were related to theft. Those are investigations resulting in a positive outcome for the victim. That is encouraging and a great start, but we need to go much further and expand that excellent work beyond the individual forces. I am pleased to say that there is already strong engagement on this from both rural representative groups and local law enforcement, but we need to go further by tackling the problem at source.

A good example of the behind-the-scenes work already being done to tackle that type of rural crime is NFU Mutual’s approach, which is based on close co-ordination with national and local police forces, as well as with the manufacturing sector. The dedicated agricultural vehicle theft unit at the national vehicle crime intelligence service saw £2.6 million-worth of stolen machinery recovered in 2021, up from £2.3 million in 2020. Specific measures, such as the funding of CESAR—the construction and agricultural equipment security and registration scheme—forensic markings for 200 quads in Northern Ireland through working with Datatag and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, have contributed to a drop of nearly 20% in the cost of dealing with rural theft in Northern Ireland. Of course, other forensic-marking products and brands are available.

We need to lock in reductions, such as those of that Northern Ireland project, for the whole of our United Kingdom, and for every farm, because each suffers from the same threat. The Bill will provide the groundwork to bring down rates of theft and reduce the overall threat of theft, tackling the problem at source and building on the prevention measures that are already in place.

The cost of not doing that is clear. The CLA estimates that the average financial impact on the victim per rural crime equates to £4,800, and that figure increases each day as supply chain costs and overheads continue to rise. The value of quad bike and ATV thefts reported to NFU Mutual in 2021 was £2.2 million. Almost half those reports were received between September and December, demonstrating the extremely challenging circumstances that we are dealing with and how much is at stake for farmers as the weather begins to turn.

For the 10.3 million people who live in the countryside, this hits right at the heart of everyday life. Rural crime cannot simply sit alongside urban crime, as the CLA makes clear. Difficulties in tracking criminals over such vast swathes of countryside mean that local police forces are always faced with a uphill battle—they have to spread resources over a much larger geographical area compared with their more urban counterparts—and criminals already have a head start.

[Simon Baynes (Clwyd South) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making an absolutely vital point. I live close to the Ceiriog valley in my constituency of Clwyd South, where there have been a lot of problems of this nature. Often, thieves come from outside the constituency. They do not come from a rural area but, in this case, from Liverpool, Manchester or Birmingham, so they are not known to the police and so on, which makes apprehending them all the more difficult. I strongly support everything he is saying.

[Greg Smith]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s support for the Bill. I agree on apprehending criminals and local knowledge. The evidence shows that so much of this acquisitive crime is committed by criminals who are not local to the area in which they are committing the crime. They are passing through as an organised criminal gang, which adds to the pressures on our police in apprehending them.

Close collaboration between communities and the police is also key to tackling theft, as demonstrated by the agricultural and construction equipment police unit, which, since April last year, has been central to tackling the cross-border organised crime that my hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd South (Simon Baynes) rightly highlighted. Its guiding principle is one that goes right to the heart of the Bill: cross-industry co-operation is crucial for crime prevention, and prevention is fundamentally better than the cure. Just as the vehicles themselves are important to farmers, so intelligence-sharing is essential for tackling theft. That is what the Bill enables.

Dealerships would be required by law to submit details of a vehicle’s appearance and registration and the location of its forensic marking to a central database that is accessible to all police forces right across our United Kingdom, no matter their size or scope. This would better enable officers from different forces to work together within dedicated units and apprehend the assailant in an effective and timely manner. That is an essential tool not only for police forces today, but for tomorrow and far into the future as the technology evolves and is developed further.

The use of a national database for training new officers is crucial for making the most of this opportunity, because by using and sharing data, forces can pinpoint hotspots where theft is particularly prevalent and respond accordingly in a co-ordinated way, knowing that their officers are properly trained to use and interpret those information systems. That is essential to beat the ever-changing tactics that these criminal gangs use to pursue what is becoming an increasingly sophisticated operation. They have the upper hand in more rural areas. Without the same level of CCTV and automatic number plate recognition systems in place, it can be incredibly difficult to track stolen vehicles moving through rural areas, especially under the cover of darkness. That is why the behind-the-scenes work already being rolled out not only needs to be accelerated, but formalised, and that is what the Bill does.

Before I conclude, I want to place on record some particular thanks to everyone who has worked with me and my team on this Bill. That is above all, but certainly not limited to, David Exwood and his whole team at the National Farmers Union and everyone at NFU Mutual who deals with this issue day in, day out for its thousands of members and consumers across the UK. Likewise, the Bill would not exist without the vast insight, knowledge and experience of Superintendent Andy Huddleston, whose hard work and determination as the rural crime co-ordinator at the National Police Chiefs’ Council has made this Bill possible. I also thank the many other industry-led organisations that have contributed to the preparation and research for the Bill, including the Country Land and Business Association, the Countryside Alliance, the Construction Equipment Association and the Agricultural Equipment Association among others. For his huge dedication and hard work supporting me on this Bill, I thank my senior parliamentary assistant, Ian Kelly.

It would also be remiss of me not to thank the succession of Ministers with whom I have negotiated since I came out of the ballot earlier this year, not least my right hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp) on the Treasury Bench, who alongside his hard-working and dedicated officials has made himself and them available to me frequently throughout the drafting and production of the Bill, which I hope will lead to the Government’s full support for it as it passes through Parliament.

The Bill will allow my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and future Home Secretaries to expand its scope where necessary and ensure that rural communities remain protected as the threat evolves and changes. The demand is still there for globalised criminal networks of stolen equipment and machinery, and we must continue working to break that link and to shut it down at source. That means identifying and monitoring other such industries that are vulnerable to having similar types of valuable assets stolen at large. There is just as much a threat to the construction industry and other trades. There are vast amounts of specialist equipment and vehicles found everywhere, from driveways to building sites, containing everything from power tools to excavators, all of which are at risk of being stolen. Tackling it will require a cross-departmental effort, just as it requires a cross-border and cross-community approach to tackle it on the ground, but we have a starting point.

We simply cannot lose this opportunity to build a network that will ultimately enhance safety and security for countless communities, businesses and farmers across our country. I trust that these calls for a strengthened approach to tackling the scourge of rural crime will not have gone unheard. I urge the Minister to keep monitoring this policy area closely and to continue to work with the police and the farming community. This Bill can make a difference to rural crime, and I commend it to the House.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Smith and Simon Baynes

Tuesday 29th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support manufacturing.

[Simon Baynes (Clwyd South) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support manufacturing.