Battle Orders in Lower Willingdon specialises in replica guns and has been trading in the town for more than 33 years.

But on October 1 the government introduced a number of changes to the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, with an aim to resolve the ever-prevalent issue of gun crime in Britain.

Battle Orders' owner Graham Barton says these new laws are 'utterly confusing' and apply to a large proportion of his stock — causing a major blow to his established business.

Graham said, "Basically, this law targets collectors and businesses who sell imitation non-firing guns, and it does not address illegal real firing guns that kill our children.

"I am losing business because most of the gun enthusiasts who visit my shop are law-abiding and have stopped buying because they don't want to get in trouble.

"Bizarrely, the full time firearms dealers and firearms licence holders in the UK can purchase real guns but are not able to buy toy imitation guns under this draconian act."

Battle Orders sell airguns but the law now stipulates face-to-face sales only, meaning Graham can no longer trade by mail order.

Subsequently, Battle Orders' airgun sales have plummeted by 90 per cent because the Internet enabled the Eastbourne based company to sell across the country.

A ban on the supply of 'realistic imitation firearms' was also introduced and due to the difficulty in defining such items, the Secretary of State made regulations specifying dimensions and colours that would be regarded as unrealistic — with an aim to provide businesses with a degree of certainty.

So, dealers should not sell any imitation gun which exceeds a height of 38mm and a length of 70mm, unless it is transparent or painted in the bright colours of orange, blue, yellow, green, pink or purple.

An imitation firearm whose principal colour is not one of those listed in the regulations is not necessarily illegal to supply, although it is more likely to be the case.

Graham understands and is concerned about rising gun crime in Britain but feels the implementation of recent laws will hinder rather than help.

He said, "Since this new law was introduced in October people have been shot with real firearms — how does this law address that issue?"

"I am in my mid 50s and was hoping to get about another five years here but I don't think that will happen now. And the big question is, when we have packed up and gone will gun crime have gone down?

"What I expect is that someone will raid a bank with a brightly coloured gun.

"Everyone will think it is a replica and then someone will be killed.

"There is probably a group of people somewhere painting real firearms bright pink and sending them across to Britain in the back of students' rucksacks because they look like toys."