Quote Originally Posted by cmnicholls View Post
The so called long barrelled pistol has no legal classification as they did not exist when the last amendment to the firearms act was passed, this is why only the person with a LBR on there ticket can shoot it and then it has to be the one on your ticket. Oddly in a recent test case in the high court the buckmark semi-automatic long barrelled pistol as converted by Alan Westlake was found to be a rifle in the eyes of the law and can now be lent and held as a club gun.
And correctly so, in my opinion.

Since UK law does not impose its prohibitions / severe restrictions on "handguns", but rather on "short firearms" (those with barrels under 12". and / or with an overall length under 24"), the so-called LBR's and LBP's, as you correctly said, have no legal classification as a category unto themselves.

Legally, they are NOT "short firearms". Therefore, they are "rifles", and should be subject to the same restrictions as other cartridge rifles: no more and no less.

It's the police, not the law, who have (incorrectly) decided that this type of rifle should be more severely restricted than other types.

Jim