Firearms and the Falklands

[Sandgroper]

Well, it's close to 8 months since my wife and I relocated to the Falklands, so I thought it was high time I explained how things worked down here in regard to firearms...

1) A Falkland Islands Firearms Licence (yes, Licence is correct down here) covers shotguns and rifles, costs just £39.10 (!), is a single double-sided piece of A4 paper and is valid for life ...unless revoked
2) Ammunition sales are not recorded as the automatic allowance is 3000 rds of which up to 1000 can be the main calibre you shoot with,
3) Reloading is by the authority of the Royal Falkland Islands Police (RFIP) and from my experiance, not common,
4) 10 Firearms is usually the maximum granted consisting of 2 each of the firearm categories - see picture below

The law (technically an Ordinance) relating to firearms is relatively straightforward (unlike the UK) but like the Falklands nothing is quite as it seems. Essentially everything, except full auto, is legal but there are two big deciding factors that impact on the importation and availablity of firearms - UK law and the RFIP.

Because the Falkland Islands Company import via the UK, UK law means that semi auto CF rifles (Section 5) are expensive and difficult to obtain. Additionally, the RFIP have an inordinate amount of power as they aprove the importation of any firearm. This all adds up to semi auto CF rifles being somewhat rare...legal ones that is. Reading between the lines, it appears that there are a sizeable number of captured FN's about and as long as no-one draws attention to themselves, the RFIP are quite content to have the odd amnesty and not look too hard because if they are wrong the locals are quite prepared to sue and they more often than not, win.

As an example of some of the RFIP strangeness, I am a Contract worker and I'm trying to import a T/C Contender in 223 and there is currently much sucking of teeth and tut tutting from the RFIP because of the potiential use of military ammunition - if I was a local, I don't think it would be that much of an issue, certainly from what locals have said. However, during the application process I cannot fault the RFIP...they bent over backwards to help me and were extremely apologetic when the process took longer than expected, about 10 weeks! When I got permission to shoot on one of the farms, I put in a variation (£7.60) for the two remaining firearm types and that took only 3 weeks and that was longer than usual. Oh, and because of the RFIP pump action shotguns are a no-no but unrestricted S/A shotguns are as common as penguins...

There is more I could say but I'll leave it for any questions you might have. The bottom line is even with the various issues and peculiarities of the Falklands, being here is worth it...

[Ovenpaa]

It sounds like you are getting into the swing of things. I like the idea of a cap on the maximum number of rounds at 3k regardless of what they are.

[Blackstuff]

Sounds like another jumble of illogical nonsense, just a different flavour to here to me. The differentiation between pump and S/A shotguns is proof of the idiocy behind the laws.

Ammunition limits in terms of firearms licensing are utterly pointless. Aside from the fact they are easily exceeded by anyone wanting to take the risk, no mass shooting, including in the US has ever exceeded that 3000rd limit. Hell in the UK I don't think its ever exceeded 300 (i'm not sure i've ever seen a round count for Hungerford). A person can only carry a certain amount of ammo, and in general the more you can carry (of any particular calibre), the less effective it is. The only justification that is logical is from a fire safety point of view and I think the GB 10,000rd limit (approx - depending on a huge number of factors), is more reasonable.

I take it handguns are freely available?

What is the ammo cost like, I imagine it quite steep considering the 'buying power' of the Falklands and as reloading is prohibited?

There are several S5 UK based dealers that i'm aware of, e.g. Guncraft, can you not order say an AR-15 from somewhere like that?

[Sandgroper]

It sounds like you are getting into the swing of things. I like the idea of a cap on the maximum number of rounds at 3k regardless of what they are.

That and the use of firearm categories makes the system very easy to manage. If I could prove need, I could ask for more ammunition and/or more firearms in a category. I helped mark out a range for one of the blokes at work and after the police cleared the range, he was granted an increase in ammunition and firearms all within a day.

[mag41uk]

Presumably there are clubs and formal ranges?
What sorts of shooting take place?

[Sandgroper]

Sounds like another jumble of illogical nonsense, just a different flavour to here to me. The differentiation between pump and S/A shotguns is proof of the idiocy behind the laws.

Ammunition limits in terms of firearms licensing are utterly pointless. Aside from the fact they are easily exceeded by anyone wanting to take the risk, no mass shooting, including in the US has ever exceeded that 3000rd limit. Hell in the UK I don't think its ever exceeded 300 (i'm not sure i've ever seen a round count for Hungerford). A person can only carry a certain amount of ammo, and in general the more you can carry (of any particular calibre), the less effective it is. The only justification that is logical is from a fire safety point of view and I think the GB 10,000rd limit (approx - depending on a huge number of factors), is more reasonable.

I take it handguns are freely available?

What is the ammo cost like, I imagine it quite steep considering the 'buying power' of the Falklands and as reloading is prohibited?

There are several S5 UK based dealers that i'm aware of, e.g. Guncraft, can you not order say an AR-15 from somewhere like that?

On one level its illogical nonsense but I think it's more of a trade-off between the RFIP and the community. The locals are happy to allow the Police a semblance of control as long as it doesn't affect them...pump action shotguns aren't banned but just that the Police have the final say about importation and as most locals have a semi-auto shotgun, so they don't see the need to sue the RFIP back into line. I could get a S5 firearm, but I'd have to pay the extra costs that the Falkland Islands Company (FIC) add on and then get it approved for importation by RFIP and that takes time and that doesn't factor in that there are only about two "gun" boats each year and if the MoD pulls a boat, my contract could be up before I see the rifle. Some locals will fight and wait out the Police, but they have the time and money. The other thing is I suspect most locals have or have access to weapons captured in '82 but because they don't "need" them they are quite happy with what is available from the UK and don't push the Police to look too closely at them. Current estimates put it at 62 firearms per 100 people.

Ammunition doesn't seem too bad but then again, I haven't paid for CF ammunition in years and anyway I don't have a choice but to pay the price! From memory, 9mm £15-17 a box and 223 £20-£28 a box. 3000 rds is more than enough for me and I think it's another trade-off between the community and the Police/Fire and Rescue. 3000 rds makes the community feel safe (in case of invasion) and allows them to buy in bulk. The houses are different to the UK so there is the Policing and Fire safety aspect which probably leans towards less ammunition but again it's most likely a compromise decision and possibly hasn't been updated since the original Ordinance from 1988(?)! Handloading isn't banned, you just need to be authorised to manufacture ammunition and it's probably cheaper to just to buy the ammunition when you factor in the cost of getting components down here.

Yes, handguns are freely available...

[shoppe]

Sounds better than here in the UK.
There will always be rules and hoops to jump through no matter where you are.
It's just the size and how many hoops that is the difference.
Glad it's working out for you both.
Shoppe

[Sandgroper]

Presumably there are clubs and formal ranges?
What sorts of shooting take place?

Two clubs in Stanley -
FI Rifle Association, which from my understanding only does TR,
FI Gun Club (I'm a member), which is essentially a SB, shotgun and pistol club.

This does limit shooters like me, who don't do TR but like to stretch their legs so to speak, but if you have permission to shoot outside of Stanley (aka "Camp" and all privately owned) it opens up your opportunities. Currently I'm helping one of the blokes at work, set up a rifle and pistol range (out to 300m) for locals and tourists to use out San Carlos way...RFIP have signed off on it, so it's looking good.

[Sandgroper]

Sounds better than here in the UK.
There will always be rules and hoops to jump through no matter where you are.
It's just the size and how many hoops that is the difference.
Glad it's working out for you both.
Shoppe

Overall, it is better than the UK and it's nice to be somewhere where firearm ownership is accepted, not considered unusual and on the whole, the Police are firearms friendly.

[GeeRam]

Presumably there are clubs and formal ranges?
What sorts of shooting take place?

Two clubs in Stanley -
FI Rifle Association, which from my understanding only does TR,
FI Gun Club (I'm a member), which is essentially a SB, shotgun and pistol club.

This does limit shooters like me, who don't do TR but like to stretch their legs so to speak, but if you have permission to shoot outside of Stanley (aka "Camp" and all privately owned) it opens up your opportunities. Currently I'm helping one of the blokes at work, set up a rifle and pistol range (out to 300m) for locals and tourists to use out San Carlos way...RFIP have signed off on it, so it's looking good.

Sounds perfect really.
A captured FN from '82, a 1911 and an unrestricted s/a 12g would be all I'd need to make me a happy bunny down there.