When did this happen?

[munsterman]

So I have been trying for weeks to find caps for a pair of prop dueling guns I'm making for a Count of Monte Cristo play. I finally found them today and I figured out why they were so freaking hard to find.

Apparently caps for a cap guns are classified as a class 3 explosive now and cannot be sold except in specialty shop.

When the hell did this happen?

 

[Geekosaurus]

Also, buying 'replica imitation firearms' (that's anything black in colour, remotely in the shape of a gun) is heavily restricted in the UK. However your profile doesn't say where you're from, so this information might just completely useless.