ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Firearms Act
2. Interpretation
Edition: 2022-12-31 · In force
2. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—"acquire" means hire, accept as a gift or borrow;"ammunition" means any cartridge, whether a blank, tracer, explosive, incendiary, gas-diffusing, signalling or any other cartridge of any other kind capable of being discharged from or used with a firearm and includes—(a)any grenade, bomb or other missile whether explosive or not and whether or not capable of or intended for use with a firearm;(b)any mine whether for use on land or at sea, depth-charge or other explosive charge;(c)any other container or thing designed or adapted for use in or as weapon for the discharge of any noxious liquid, gas or other substance;(d)any projectile, powder or other charge, primer, fuse or bursting charge forming part of any cartridge or any component part thereof; and(e)any ammunition or pellets for use in an airgun, air rifle or air pistol;"airgun", "air rifle" and "air pistol" mean, respectively, a gun, rifle or pistol which discharges missiles by the pressure of air or other gas or by mechanical means which do not use the products of combustion or explosives;"approved carrier" means a carrier approved by the Inspector-General of Police;"approved servant" means an employee approved by a licensing officer;"area" means a district or part of a district for which a licensing officer is appointed under section 3;"arms of war" means artillery of all kinds, apparatus for the discharge of all kinds of projectiles, explosive or gas diffusing, flame-throwers, bombs, grenades, machine-guns and rifled small-bore breech-loading weapons, but does not include sporting rifles or personal or other weapons or apparatus not intended for war-like purposes;"Board" means the Firearms Licensing Board established by section 3;"cadet unit" means a cadet unit established under the provisions of the Kenya Regiment (Territorial Force) Act (Repealed);"cartridge" means any case, capsule, shell, pellet or bag of metal, pasteboard or other material, holding a complete charge for a firearm and including in the case of any firearm fired from the shoulder or of any pistol or revolver the projectile discharged therefrom;"customs control" means the control of the Customs and Excise Department;"customs officer" means an officer of the Customs and Excise Department;"firearm" means a lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged or which can be adapted for the discharge of any shot, bullet or other missile and includes—(a)a weapon of any description designed or intended to discharge—(i)any noxious liquid, noxious gas or other noxious substance; or(ii)an electrical charge which when it strikes any person or animal is of sufficient strength to stun and temporarily disable the person or animal struck (such weapon being commonly known as a "stun gun" or "electronic paralyser");(b)any airgun, air rifle, air pistol, revolver, crossbow, laser gun or any other similar weapon;(c)the barrel, bolt, chamber, silencer, muffler, flash-guard or any other accessory designed or adapted to diminish the noise or flash caused by firing a weapon and also other essential component part of any weapon;(d)any weapon or other device or apparatus which may be specified by the Cabinet Secretary by order published in the Gazette to be a firearm for the purposes of this Act; and(e)gunscope, gunsight, mufflers, bulletproof gear, night vision devices and other similar accessories."firearm certificate" means a firearm certificate granted under section 5;"firearms dealer" means a person who, by way of trade or business, sells, transfers, repairs, tests or proves firearms or ammunition;"Gazette" deleted by L.N. 374/1964, s. 2;"Inspector-General" means the Inspector-General of Police appointed under Article 245(2) of the Constitution."immigration officer" has the same meaning as in the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act (Cap. 170);"lethal weapon" means a weapon capable of causing death, injury, maiming or any other bodily harm whether or not the weapon is barrelled from which any shot, bolt, bullet, ray, beam, warhead, grenade, gas, liquid or other noxious substance or any other missile can be discharged and includes any prohibited weapon whether or not the same is a lethal weapon;"licensing officer" means the chief licensing officer, and every licensing officer, appointed under section 3;"munitions of war" means ammunition for use with arms of war;"possession"—(a)includes not only having in one’s own personal possession, but also knowingly having anything in the actual possession or custody of any other person, or having anything in any place (whether belonging to or occupied by oneself or not) for the use of benefit of oneself or of any other person and the expressions "be in possession" or "have in possession" shall be construed accordingly; and(b)if there are two or more persons and any one or more of them with the knowledge and consent of the rest has or have anything in his or their custody or possession, it shall be deemed and taken to be in the custody and possession of each and all of them"."prohibited weapon" means—(a)a firearm which is so designed or adapted that—(i)when pressure is applied to the trigger missiles continue to be discharged until such pressure is removed or the magazine or belt containing the missiles is empty; or(ii)for each pressure of the trigger more than one discharge of a missile can take place,unless such firearm has been modified to the satisfaction of the chief licensing officer so as to ensure that for each pressure of the trigger the discharge of only one missile can take place;(b)any automatic or semi-automatic self-loading military assault rifle of 7.62 mm or 5.56 mm calibre or of any other calibre from time to time specified by the Cabinet Secretary by notice in the Gazette;(c)a firearm fitted with or including any device, accessory or attachment which reduces or is designed or adapted to reduce the noise or flash caused by discharging such firearm and includes any such separate device, accessory or attachment;(d)any weapon which can be or is designed or adapted to discharge any noxious liquid, gas or other substance unless such weapon, noxious liquid, gas or other substance are of classes or types authorized by the Cabinet Secretary by notice in the Gazette; and(e)any firearm or ammunition prescribed or any class or type of firearm or ammunition or any such device, accessory or attachment as is referred to in paragraph (c) prescribed by the Cabinet Secretary by notice in the Gazette;"slaughtering instrument" means a firearm which is specially designed or adapted for the instantaneous slaughter of animals or for the instantaneous stunning of animals with a view to slaughtering them;"transfer" includes let on hire, give, lend and part with possession.