MP calls for clarity on magnet-fishing laws after weapons pulled from waters
An MP has asked the Home Secretary to consider new laws relating to the growing hobby of 'magnet fishing' after a number of weapons have been pulled out of waterways by fishers across the West Midlands.
Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, asked Priti Patel if she would look at tightening regulation, requiring people to report weapons they find.
On Sunday, magnet fisher Nigel Jones pulled the double barrel from a sawn-off shotgun out of the canal in Polesworth, Warwickshire. He handed his find in at Nuneaton police station.
Also last month, mother Nadine Anthony pulled out a gun magazine with a bullet still inside while fishing with her young children behind Sainsbury's in Kidderminster.
Magnet fishing, where people dangle powerful magnets into canals and rivers to find items lurking below the water, has grown significantly in recent years, and has been popularised by celebrities such as former England rugby star James Haskell.
Mr Pritchard said he did not want to stop people from enjoying the activity, but was concerned that some people were not aware of the law regarding what to do when finding such items.
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He said: “No one wants to stop or prohibit the hobby of magnet fishing, but it is important that the law around certain finds and items retrieved from local and national waterways is fully understood and magnet fishing does not undo the very good name of traditional fishing.”
Responding to Mr Pritchard's call, Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said it was already the law that anybody who found a firearm or ammunition under any circumstances was required to notify the police.
"They are likely otherwise to be committing an offence by being in unlawful possession, given that most of these items are subject to strict licensing controls under firearms legislation," he said.
Mr Malthouse said similar laws applied to knives.
He added that it was an offence to carry an article with a blade or point in public without good reason, under the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 strengthened the law further in respect of knives and bladed articles, making it an offence to possess prohibited weapons in private.
