Hi Terry,
That's very interesting as I hadn't realised that the ban did not apply to Northern Ireland. There are certainly plenty of guns there - although I would have a less than marginal interest in collecting AK47s and Armalites.
As far as I know the reason the ban doesn't apply to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man is that neither of them are part of the United Kingdom - or the European Union for that matter. They have their own parliament and make their own laws about most things.
From the current media hype, it looks as if the UK government may now be considering a ban on deactivated weapons too. Supposedly this is to prevent them being reactivated by criminals although I can't really see some drug dealing Yardie gangster choosing to try to reactivate a temperamental old pistol when he can easily find Mac 10's and Uzis in their original condition. You wouldn't really want to find yourself in a gun battle with a 100 year old Mauser C96 that may or may not blow your hand off.
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