Great Britain is scrapping the short notification forms for deactivated firearms-England, Wales and Scotland will no longer have to tell Whitehall when a non‑firing item is bought or passed on. Northern Ireland keeps its framework to comply with the Windsor Framework, so notifications there still go to the Department of Justice. Officials say the data collected served no policing purpose. (gov.uk)

Ministers have made the Firearms (Revocation, Consequential Amendment and Saving Provision) Regulations 2026, revoking the Firearms Regulations 2019 across Great Britain and amending the Northern Ireland provisions. The change starts on Wednesday 4 March 2026, 21 days after the day it was laid before Parliament. (gov.uk)

For businesses and collectors across the North, this is a tidy bit of deregulatory housekeeping rather than a change to live‑gun rules. Deactivated firearms remain outside certificate controls, and the standards for disabling them stay tight so items cannot be brought back into use. (gov.uk)

The Home Office expects only marginal savings-roughly half of one Executive Officer’s time, about £22,300 a year-and negligible impact on dealers now spared a simple form. No formal impact assessment was produced. (gov.uk)

Northern Ireland will continue with its notification regime. The instrument confirms the “appropriate national authority” there is the Department of Justice and sets the penalty for failing to notify at level 1 on the standard scale. If you’re trading or moving deactivated items within NI, those duties still apply. (gov.uk)

A saving clause tidies up the backlog in Great Britain. If someone transferred or first possessed a deactivated firearm before commencement and did not notify at the time, they can do so afterwards without committing an offence, provided it is done “as soon as practicable”. A transferee’s defence based on a reasonable belief that the transferor notified is also preserved. (gov.uk)

The measure moved through Westminster under the Retained EU Law Act’s proposed‑negative route. Sifting committees agreed on 27–28 January that it should proceed via the negative procedure, with the sifting period ending on 3 February. (statutoryinstruments.parliament.uk)

Why change at all? As the Home Office puts it, the notification data for deactivated items “serves no operational or law enforcement purpose”, with police interest focused on live firearms. That stays the key test for readers here-this is a paperwork trim, not a relaxation of live‑gun law. (gov.uk)

What to do now in the North: from 4 March, Great British collectors, museums and traders can stop sending notification forms-but keep deactivation certificates and records. If you buy, sell or move deactivated items within Northern Ireland, continue to notify the Department of Justice. Live‑firing firearms law is unchanged. (gov.uk)