Police sort the guns that were seized amid a national campaign on illegal guns and explosives, at a sport center in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. (Photo: VCG)

Experts said on Sunday China's gun law could exempt lower-powered illegal guns, and a new regulation released by the high people's court in East China's Zhejiang Province in November could lead to lower sentences on gun owners if applied across China.

The High People's Court and People's Procuratorate of Zhejiang Province released a measure in November, detailing the sentencing criteria of criminal cases involving guns, Shanghai-based news site thepaper.cn reported on Sunday. 

Unlike the Ministry of Public Security's firearms identification regulation, the new regulation by Zhejiang Province set a limit in terms of bullet impact.

A 2010 Ministry of Public Security document on firearms identification states that guns capable of firing bullets with a force of above or equal to 1.8 joules per square centimeter are considered illegal firearms.

However, the Zhejiang Province in the regulation states that the muzzle energy of an air gun between 1.8 to 16 joules per square centimeter should be exempt from the gun law.

But the regulation shall not apply to people who intend to commit a crime using air guns, have a history of illegal gun ownership or resist investigation. 

Xu Xin, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology's School of Law, who participated in many controversial gun cases in China, told the Global Times on Sunday that the Zhejiang local measure is the most advanced, and suggested that it be applied in courts and procuratorates across China. 

Xu said there are obvious differences in sentences because the firearms criteria are extremely low in China, which gives judges broad discretion.  

He also called on China to classify and grade firearm management. The sentences for imitation guns and a real one should be different.