Defaced or altered firearms or firearm parts

Offence title:

Defaced or altered firearms or firearm parts

Act:

66 Firearms Act (NSW)

Offence:

A person must not, unless authorised by the Commissioner to do so:

1. deface or alter any number, letter or identification mark on any firearm or firearm part, or
2. use, supply, acquire or possess a defaced firearm or give possession of a defaced firearm to another person, or
3. supply, acquire or possess a defaced firearm part or give possession of a defaced firearm part to another person.

Penalty:

Imprisonment for 14 years

Summary/Indictable/mixed:

Mixed

Jurisdiction:

Local, District or Supreme Court

How committed:

Person A takes an angle grinder to the serial number of a pistol and grinds it away so the number is illegible.

Important note:

Defence:

It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence under subsection (1) (b) or (c) if the defendant proves that the defendant did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the firearm or firearm part was a defaced firearm or defaced firearm part (as the case requires).

defaced firearm means a firearm on which any number, letter or identification mark has been defaced or altered.

defaced firearm part means a firearm part on which any number, letter or identification mark has been defaced or altered.