HC Deb 25 November 1920 vol 135 cc684-5W
General Sir IVOR PHILIPPS

asked the Home Secretary whether he is aware that in some counties the police are making use of their power under the Firearms Act, 1920, arbitrarily to deprive respectable citizens of their revolvers or rifles, irrespective of whether the citizens in question have served in His Majesty's forces or as special constables during the recent War; and whether it is his intention to use this Act as a disarming Act, and not, as was intended when the Act was before this House, as a registration of arms Act?

Mr. SHORTT

I have received a few complaints, and am about to issue instructions to the police which will, I hope, assist them in carrying out, on fair and reasonable lines, the administration of an Act which was intended to restrict the possession of firearms to fit persons having some good reason for possessing or acquiring them.