A stringent law governing blanks, bullet components and the like is to take effect today as part of the government’s effort to combat gun crime.
Under the amended Firearms, Ammunition and Knives Control Act (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例), ownership of bullet components is illegal, and employing such items for criminal use is punishable by a prison sentence of up to seven years and NT$5 million (US$153,808) in fines, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The ministry issued a preview of the amended Regulations Controlling Firearms and Ammunition Primary Components and Materials (槍砲彈藥主要組成零件種類及材質) in June after the amendments to the Firearms, Ammunition and Knives Control Act were passed in December last year.
Photo copied by Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
The amendments added Article 13-1, which says that manufacturing, selling or transporting the main components of bullets without permission could be punished with imprisonment of six months to five years and a fine of not more than NT$3 million.
The amendments also say that a contravention of the act with the intent to provide bullets for oneself or others for criminal use could be punished with imprisonment of one to seven years and a fine of not more than NT$5 million.
The amendments say that possession, storage or intention to sell bullets should be punished with imprisonment of not more than one year and a fine of not more than NT$1 million.
Criminal groups have been exploiting legal loopholes by importing bullet components or blank cartridges and assembling them into live rounds, the ministry said.
Blank cartridges still retain the casing and a minute amount of smokeless powder, and criminals can convert the blank cartridges back into a live round by cutting off the tip of the casing and reinserting a bullet, it said.
According to Criminal Investigation Bureau data, police nationwide have confiscated 310,000 live rounds since 2018, 77 percent of which were standard issue rounds, 10 percent were rounds converted from blank cartridges and the rest from other sources.
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