Reforms to strengthen the UK gun law were adopted by parliament in 2005. The revisions include a ban on the manufacture, import and sale of 'realistic' replica guns, increasing the age limit for owning any replica gun to 18 years and tightening sentences for carrying imitation firearms. It also requires all sales of airguns to be conducted through a registered dealer. Private sales of airguns are banned.

The Act contains a specific exemption for deactivated wepaons, which are also replica firearms:

38 Meaning of “realistic imitation firearm”
(1) In sections 36 and 37 “realistic imitation firearm” means an imitation firearm which—

(a) has an appearance that is so realistic as to make it indistinguishable, for all practical purposes, from a real firearm; and

(b) is neither a de-activated firearm nor itself an antique.

The government initially proposed the Violent Crime Reduction Act during the2005 Global Week of Action Against Small Arms, 6-12 June.

The legislation was welcomed by IANSA members in the UK, including Gill Marshall-Andrews of the Gun Control Network (GCN). "Recent increases in UK gun crime have been entirely due to the misuse of imitation guns and airguns," Gill said. "We're delighted that the government has finally taken this matter seriously and recognised that the law needed to be changed."

Click here to read the Act