The Executive Yuan is soon to propose a bill to raise the minimum sentence for making illegal air guns to seven years in prison, a source said yesterday.
In the past several years, criminals have increasingly favored air guns modified to shoot pellets with lethal force, the source cited Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as saying in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
This preference stems from a loophole in the law and regulations, which stipulate lighter prison sentences and lower fines for the manufacture, sale, transport and ownership of modified air guns than improvised firearms, the source cited Su as saying.
The Ministry of the Interior has been directed to draft changes aimed at increasing the minimum jail sentence for making, transporting, selling and owning illegally modified air guns to seven years, the same as those imposed for improvised firearm offenses, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administrative fine for crimes connected to making or owning improvised firearms or modified air guns would also be increased from NT$500,000 to NT$1.5 million (US$16,107 to US$48,322), the source added.
Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) on Friday oversaw meetings that resulted in a legal draft, which the Executive Yuan is on Thursday expected to present for further internal reviews, the source said.
The draft is believed to incorporate articles that would make punishment for the illegal sale or ownership of improvised handguns equal to owning or selling normal firearms, the source added.
With the aim of levying fines on gun-making and dealing, the administrative regulations define imitation guns as projectile devices utilizing a firing pin and whose design, materials and appearance resemble a real firearm, the source said.
Illegal workshops are known to avoid fines by designing weapons that do not feature a firing pin, which the draft would also address by changing the legal language used, the source added.
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