UK laws on NV

[Practical]

Hi guys,

Does anyone know where you might find the laws concerning night vision what's legal and what's not, mainly to prove everything is okay?

I know that hunting is legal in UK with night vision everything that is legal to hunt at night that is.
Its legal to own Infra ref lasers etc.

any documents noting the legalities of NV in uk out there?

odd question I know

[Paddy_SP]

As far as I'm aware, there are no laws concerning the ownership of NV kit in this country.

[Greylag]

Hey up Practical,

I believe there are some that are for military use and are military issue only. If you were to "come by" those I suspect you would have problems. I may be wrong but I've never heard of any other legal issues of owning night vision equipment and normal "over the counter" NV is legal as far as I'm aware.

Regards

[westbrom1]

I believe the may be a move for pending legislation on lazers but IR lazers I dont know.

Apparently its a growing problem that chavs are shining them at aircraft cockpits

[Practical]

Hi guys

thanks for the replies on this odd one,

I was having a dissussion with a US chap who asked about laws concerning NV and hunting to which i replied there are none concerning nv just those concerning animals that cannot be shot at night or with illumination

I was just looking for a document to prove said fact, but i suppose laws only tell you what you cannot do not what you can do

[Ian Johnstone]

Each State in the US can have different regs for Hunting & NV.

By contrast, the GB (wide) laws are straightforward, there may be an odd issue with NI though .

[Baldie]

I've spent an unreasonable amount of time researching this query.

I've rung several (UK) Government agencies. I've rung both NI and Eire police/Garda.


If there's anything out there restricting NV in any of these places, the local law enforcement/government agencies aren't able to indicate where or what they are.

There are some restrictions on exporting better grades of NV tubed equipment, but digital technology makes a nonesense of these restrictions.


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[Practical]

well sir,

I didnt mean to inconvience anyone about this one, but thanks for this.

My own research and thinking has lead to the following.

We have laws covering which animals can be taken at night or sunset and sun rise.
I remember reading that deer cannot be killed using image intensifying devices even when a licence for night shooting has been granted- special circumstance needed and very rare to happen.
Birds at roost cannot be illuminated and shot at night but I am not sure this covers pest species?

When you say better grades of tubes are we saying FOM 1200 or 1600 plus such as the rules covering us exports of gen 2. Any rules on importing into UK.

[badgeroy]

Originally Posted by Practical

well sir,

I didnt mean to inconvience anyone about this one, but thanks for this.

My own research and thinking has lead to the following.

We have laws covering which animals can be taken at night or sunset and sun rise.
I remember reading that deer cannot be killed using image intensifying devices even when a licence for night shooting has been granted- special circumstance needed and very rare to happen.
Birds at roost cannot be illuminated and shot at night but I am not sure this covers pest species?
When you say better grades of tubes are we saying FOM 1200 or 1600 plus such as the rules covering us exports of gen 2. Any rules on importing into UK.

As far as i remember pigeon may be shot at night with illumination in /on man made structures but i dont know about using NV.

[Practical]

yep the above is a good point i know i have seen this done and mentioned a few times in the shooting press and i carnt see them being allowed to show law breaking

[Chas]

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Ima..._tcm6-7669.pdf

Paragraph 2 (iv) (a)

[Paddy_SP]

Originally Posted by Practical

When you say better grades of tubes are we saying FOM 1200 or 1600 plus such as the rules covering us exports of gen 2. Any rules on importing into UK.

I don't think there are any rules on importing NV tubes of any kind. It's getting them out of the USA that will get you in trouble...

[cj7hawk]

Getting them out of the US will only get you into trouble if you're the one sending it out - Otherwise the US laws will get anyone sending it to you in trouble.

It's not just NV scopes either now - Even optical scopes are being affected.

David.

[Yella]

Originally Posted by cj7hawk

Getting them out of the US will only get you into trouble if you're the one sending it out - Otherwise the US laws will get anyone sending it to you in trouble.

It's not just NV scopes either now - Even optical scopes are being affected.

David.

People complain and make reference to "terriblly restrictive" UK Law's over here.... But apparently under some peoples interpretation of ITAR i'm not allowed to look through my own Gen 3 or any other Gen 3 here in the US as I'm not a US citizen....

Eotech's are covered too so I'm assuming this would be frowned upon?

http://i960.photobucket.com/albums/a...2/NVEotech.jpg

[Baldie]

Originally Posted by Practical

When you say better grades of tubes are we saying FOM 1200 or 1600 plus such as the rules covering us exports of gen 2. Any rules on importing into UK.

There are no rules on importing.

There are some rules on exporting ANYTHING to some countries, which includes money....


And a word to the wise .... Exporting Gen I from Eastern Bloc (as was) countries, needs a License for it to leave.




Last word on the US exporting thingy ......


There is a set of rules (ITAR) that expressly forbids the export out from America without a license, a list of goods considered a potential threat to their own security. Thermal Nuclear missiles, for example. Apache helicopters, Hellfire anti-tank ordnance.

Usable grade NV, (good quality passive systems) are forbidden for export, without a license.

On the face of it, these rules don't affect anyone here. Right up to the time the UK owner of some Gen III gets his collar felt while out shooting. Should Plod know anything about NV, the form factor (model) of the Gen III could indicate the potential tube quality. There's no such thing as a Gen II ~ PVS14.

Once said item has been 'clocked' and investigated (someone looks at the tube), the owner might well be asked to produce the license the item was exported with. Since there won't be one, the tube could be considered contraband, and seized. Possibly the owner of said Gen III unit could have their run of bad luck turn around, and seizure be about as far as the matter goes. If their run of bad luck continues, the American Embassy (and from there the FBI or similar) get involved, some real #### could hit the fan. When the tube is confirmed as having no export license, the owner could then be extradited back to the US to face trial over breach of the ITAR restrictions. The owner might even find themselves doing jail time in a US prison?


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