This was a wrong interpretation of the law by a jobsworth, (not sure if its police or a polititian) which first came up early last year, and much of what is being quoted now comes from then, the fact is under 6 ft lb multi shot air pistols were legal in 1997 and still are now. This rumour came up early last year, and was debunked then, nothing has changed since.
The quoted statement from a Lords debate refers to high powered OVER 6ft lb air pistols, which of course are illegal now any way!
And the Sportsman Association claim that Harry was told to stop importing by the police, not the CPS. I have not spoken to Harry on this so not sure, but I have on hearsay that that issue was over a sporting rifle that used a similar action and was borderline legal, not the LP50
There is a statement today on the Stirton forum by an informed and respected NSRA council member with vast pistol and legal knowlege where he states he provided indisputable evidence to the NSRA and the Sportsman Association (which is the source of this scare) that these under 6 ft lbs five shot air pistols were legal in 1997 and that nothing has changed since to change that!
The Sportsman Association have used Steyr as an example, but Steyr have stopped production of the LP50, purely due to the ISSF dropping events Internationaly for five shot air, and there is not enough market for them, and possibly some problems in production. But if true ,the same would apply to any under 6ft lb multishot air pistol of any make, including the replica type ones ( another debate!), and those are still being imported by the shed load and are even stocked and sold by the NSRA.
As I own an LP50e, and also last year when this arose mine was on loan to a GB National squad member to do qualifying for a section 5 permit, I, as also did the National Squad looked seriously into this, it was debunked then and to my knowledge nothing has changed.
Last edited by RobinC; 02-05-2016 at 09:18 AM.
Walther KK500 Alutec expert special - Barnard .223 "wilde" in a Walther KK500 Alutec stock, mmm...tasty!! - Keppeler 6 mmBR with Walther grip and wood! I may be a Walther-phile?