Member

I think 1945 is a convenient time to end the definition of antique, especially for the purpose of this Act. This is mostly because steel became contaminated with radioactive elements shortly thereafter, following the aerial atomic-bomb test in Japan, and in other parts of the world where tests were carried out, as well as when bombs were dropped as a weapon of war. We can distinguish old steel from new post 1945. Designs also changed a good deal after the war, and there was a long period when some countries did not produce; 1945, therefore, is a convenient cut-off point. We can tell what is pre-1945 and what is later. That is also where this intense period of history ends, when the world was at war and weapons were so prevalent. It might be sensible to allow us all to possess the memories or mementoes from the last world war and to prohibit weapons produced after it. Apart from anything else, in previous times these antique weapons have gone for a considerable price and have been viewed by enforcement officers as extremely low risk of being the cause of crime.