The following section is inserted after section 25 of the Principal Act:
"25A. Surrender of firearms and offensive weapons.
(1) The Minister may by order appoint a specified period during which a person may surrender at any Garda station or at any other place approved for the purpose by a superintendent of the Garda Síochána any of the following weapons:
(a) a firearm;
(b) a flick-knife;
(c) a weapon of offence.
(2) When surrendering a weapon during the specified period, the person -
(a) shall give his or her name, address and proof of identity to a member of the Garda Síochána at the Garda Síochána station or place concerned, and
(b) shall be informed by the member that the weapon and any thing in which it was surrendered may be forensically examined or tested.
(3) Proceedings for an offence shall not be instituted against any person who surrenders a weapon under this section if -
(a) in the case of a firearm, the offence consists only in the possession, carrying and use (other
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