Have your say on the Offensive Weapons Bill

The UK Government has introduced the Offensive Weapons Bill to change some of the laws about offensive weapons, including acid, knives and guns.

A group of MPs working on a Public Bill Committee are looking closely at the Offensive Weapons Bill to see what the changes would mean.

To help them with their work, they'd like to hear from you.

The Bill covers three types of weapon – acid, knives and offensive weapons, and firearms.

The key changes that the Bill would make are:

• a new offence of possessing a corrosive substance in a public place;



• a new offence of selling certain harmful corrosive products to under 18s;



• new restrictions on online sales of bladed articles and corrosive products, including restrictions on deliveries to residential premises;



• a new offence of possessing certain offensive weapons (the weapons concerned are already subject to restrictions on their sale, manufacture and importation); and



• reclassifying certain firearms as “prohibited weapons” under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968.

You can find out more about the Public Bill Committee and how to have your say here:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2018/june/have-your-say-on-the-offensive-weapons-bill/

The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to look at it.

The Committee is expected to meet between Tuesday 17 July and Thursday 13 September 2018. It can't look at any new information after 13 September.