Humane Dispatch Pistols Sect (5) ?

[Moorlander]

Was wondering , where pistol/revolver ownership is allowed for humane dispatch are they classed as Sect(5) and a special FAC required ?

Also do RFDs selling them have to be Sect(5) ?

[Laurie]

They are S5 from an import, distribution and sale point of view, but are bought and owned by the deerstalking (or other) purchaser on a normal S1 variation. (Yes !!!! explain any logic in this.)

What that means is that the buyer having got his / her variation can only buy the revolver from an S5 dealer face to face. If you don't have an S5 dealer near you, you have to travel to the seller's premises. (I saw a case some years back where the buyer lived north of Aberdeen and the vendor was York Guns Ltd with the little Bond Arms 2-chamber 'Derringer' type pistols that YGL imported and sold for humane despatch - the buyer had to travel down specially to buy it.) If transported to another S5 dealer to make a transaction nearer you, this has to be under very onerous (hence expensive) S5 carriage arrangements on top of the dealer's fee.

I assume that where it is a private sale from an S1 holder to another with an S1 variation, this is OK not needing an S5 RFD involved - but I'll wait for advice on that one given the nature of the legislation / guidance in this dog's breakfast.

Most forces put other restrictions on the use and nature of firearm too - a common one at one time was four out of six chambers permanently blocked off in a revolver. There were some legal challenges to this some years back, so I'm not sure if this is as common as it once was. It has recently been said on other forums that semi-auto pistols with restricted capacity magazines are about to be regulated out of their current acceptable S5/S1 status too becoming S5 permanently, so who knows on that one.

[Moorlander]

Thanks for that.