I propose to be brief. This amendment, as has been very fairly pointed out by the noble Lord, removes the substance of new subsection (9B) of the Firearms Act. It is therefore relevant to look at the new subsection to see the extent to which it is acceptable. I am content with one bit of it, welcome another bit of it and remain very concerned about a third bit of it, and I shall deal with each rather briefly.
6.15 pm
The bit with which I am content is the bit on which the noble Lord focused. Many years ago, I was a special constable—I will come to that briefly on the next group—and I know full well that special constables and, indeed, designated persons can get involved in confrontational situations. This part of the new subsection is about giving them defensive devices. I am not against that; I am actually in favour of that because they do face confrontational situations. I accept that the devices can be injurious. Clearly these people need training and there needs to be a proper disciplinary framework, but whether you should deprive them of these devices is a different question to which I say robustly that the answer is no. They should have them subject to a proper regulatory regime. So I am content with that part of new subsection (9B).
The second part I welcome because—I admit that this falls slightly outside new subsection (9B)—it uses the affirmative resolution procedure. All my life in Parliament, I have been against the negative resolution. It is an abuse. Whenever I have the opportunity, I welcome and endorse the affirmative resolution. Its use here is good news, and I welcome it.
So where do I grumble? I grumble with this bit. If one looks clearly at new subsection (9B), what one actually sees is the ability of the Secretary of State to authorise weapons by, it is true, affirmative resolution. Once those weapons are authorised, they can be used by designated persons at the discretion of the chief officer. My query is: what is the weapon in mind? If you look at the primary legislation, you will see quite plainly that a weapon can be a firearm of the usual kind as defined in the Firearms Act, so what in fact we are saying is that the Secretary of State by affirmative resolution can authorise designated persons to carry and use firearms.
On the face of it, that is a fairly bold proposition, so I went to the Explanatory Notes. They are very useful things to look at. They are normally unintelligible, but they are quite useful on this occasion. They actually refer to self-defence devices. That is what the Explanatory Notes tell us we are talking about, but go to the Bill: do you find any restriction on the nature of the weapon? No. The weapon is defined just as a weapon, not as a self-defence weapon.
Therefore, let us be absolutely clear about what we are being asked to do. It is to allow chief constables to authorise designated persons to carry and use firearms—in the ordinary use of that word—if authorised by affirmative resolution. Speaking for myself, I am extraordinarily cautious about that. I have practised at the Bar on and off for 40 years, I have been a Minister for the police, I was a Member of Parliament for 31 years, and do I trust the police usually—always—to behave well with firearms? I most certainly do not, and I am very cautious about extending the range of people who have the right to carry and use them.
If the Minister will say something to me in her most charming manner—or she can write, if she likes—to the effect that the Government will change the legislation so that we are dealing exclusively with self-defence devices, I will be a great deal happier with what is now being proposed, but so long as we are dealing with an unrestricted class of weapon she will not have my support.