LOAN OF A RIFLE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 19, 22 July 1933, Page 15

LOAN OF A RIFLE

A TECHNICAL BREACH

."Whether'-a ■man who has a'permit to possess a firearm can lend tho firearm to a friend for a short period, was a question which faced Mr. A. M. Mow--Icm, S.M., in the Hastings Magistrate's Court. Counsel for the defence stated that it was not possible to procure a permit for loaning a rifle, so that if ono man. lent his rifle- to a friend, while he (the owner) went to boil a billy, for instance, it was a question whether he was within the law.

In answer to this, Senior-Sergeant D. J. O'Neill said the law made no provision for the loan of a rifle, and, put shortly, an owner of a registered firearm was simply not allowed to lend it.

Tho question arose when Reginald George Sutton'was charged with receiving possession of a firearm without a permit to do so. ■'Arising \out of the same charge, Davis Ormond Smith was charged with delivering possession of a firearm to R.. G. Sutton, a person who had no permit to receive same.

WHAT IS POSSESSION?

In regard to the first case it was stated' that the rifle was loaned by one defendant to the other, and Mr. Averill contended that this did not constitute possession. He pointed out that no permit was issued by the police for the purpose of loaning a rifle, only for purchase, and the. law distinctly said that there had to be possession for seven days,, so a layman could, and usually did, look upon tho loan of a firearm as purely a loan and not possession. In this case tho rifle was lent for the weekond, and it could not be- said that this was illegal possession. Th'o whole offence, if it was an offence, was of a highly technical nature. The defendant Sutton was. out of work and his family was short of food,'so he hit. on the estimable idea of borrowing the riflo from Mr. Smith to go and get venison.

Senior-Sergeant D. J. O'Neill said the object of the Firearms Act was to prevent undesirable people from having firearms.

The Magistrate agreed that there was no regulation to allow a man to lend a rifle to another man.

Defendant Sutton was fined 10s, and costs 10s. " Smith whs also convicted and discharged.