That is incorrect.A constable has legal authority to sieze any firearm. In reality, if he was competent and familiar with the firearm, he would make/prove it safe. If he was unsure of the firearm he had been presented with, he would eitherA). Call for an officer with experience of that particular firearm to prove/make it safeorB). Without tampering with it, take it un molested to a Police station where someone with experience could be called to make/prove it safe.
You're dead right Fuz (., very appropriate to this conversation /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif ), B would not be the best option but that is exactly what would have happened while I was serving.These days, there is much better access to firearms teams, but if they were not able to attend, The gun would still be siezed, taken to a nick and labelled as not proved before being stored in a secure cabinet awaiting " a man who can". We were all instructed NOT to medle with firearms in the evidence store/secure cabinets and NOT to try and make safe guns we were not entirely familiar with. General duties officers would still be expected to sieze them though, if the need arose (which in nearly 30 years, it never did for me).
