Police U-turn on gun licensing - Fieldsports News, 4 December 2024

[@Screwpaulrose]

It's a sad state of affairs when we're celebrating a government department fulfilling a statutory duty.

[@RussellTurner]

So few people do their jobs properly these days that when they do… it stands out like a bulldogs bollocks.

[@jamesmilnes2194]

If firearms license departments are loaded down with too much work then the home office should half their workloads by cancelling the need for licensing of sound moderators, it is ludicrous how a baffled tube "essentially like a car or motorcycle exhaust" needs to go through the rigmarole of being a licenced item.

[@fredgillespie5855]

Up until about 1967/8 you bought your gun license at the post office and any type of shotgun in the local sports shop (with no licence asked for)

[@paulcock3489]

The UK needs a frist and second amendment

[@John-dp1he]

oddly, the American 1st and 2nd amendments are based on our rights under the 1705/1715 Parliment Act. I may be a bit adrift on the dates, but check it out

[@fredgillespie5855]

@@John-dp1he - Or on the 1689 Bill of Rights which recognises our common law right to have a weapon for our defence which in N. Ireland is interpreted as the right to own a firearm including a hand gun (which is prohibited by statute law in the rest of the UK)

[@phillkirby]

They just want no more guns or farms

[@seemoore]

Well done B A S C 😊

[@samueljames8026]

Take back the country

[@willgrange2823]

Thankful for that. I put my sgc application in in January, I don’t want to wait another 2 years!

[@Packaging_man]

Lancashire are only just processing applications for shotgun licences upto April 2024 due to backlog so they say since covid

[@RobertWilson-lj9qf]

They used to have a good firearms dept at Landsdown Road Police Station in Cheltenham with a couple of retired army guys running it. They knew that not every firearm was an AK47, and that an empty case was not a bullet. They also had some military efficiency and pragmatism, and understood that a firearms licensing dept should be issuing licenses in line with the law. Of course they closed the whole station down, which was the obvious response to rising crime in Cheltenham.

[@TMS5100]

This is what happens when you have no rights, only privileges granted at the pleasure of the crown.

[@gr-s2143]

That’s not how it works AT ALL. Britain has a parliamentary democracy and rights are enshrined in the constitution. You are confusing a written constitution with one which is established through case law.

[@mathiasschumacher7321]

​@@gr-s2143 and why doesn't it work?

[@fredgillespie5855]

@@gr-s2143 - Pray tell, where can I find this constitution where my rights are enshrined, I would really like to know.

[@dave_724]

I had a new license in 5 days with Gloucester police last year what the I don’t know what the excuse is now for taking so long. I don’t think it’s acceptable to shutdown there service.

[@Edgunsuk]

shame 1/4 of the gun price is Holts commission actually scrub ""shame"" its fking disgusting.

[@scottbrooks7978]

plus VAT

[@davidbetts480]

I have heard from a mate of mine in Cambridgeshire that he was told the same thing by Cambridgeshire Firearms department. He put in for his shotgun certificate about 2 years ago and just last week he was told that they were not issuing new licence applicants for at least 2 years.

[@Screwpaulrose]

I got in just before this madness in Beds, Cambs, Herts. Several of my friends have been waiting over a year from original application. I've waited over a year too, for my black powder certificate.

[@nicolajaynehodson9223]

yet the idiots bemoaning the issues are the same people who voted for the Selfservatives

[@marklelohe3754]

Excellent reporting. Good news for a change. Nice to see the poor thinking by the Greens and RSPB coming home to roost. Message to them is to move legislation out of the way of the country dwellers and farming community and let them manage the natural balance that they know and understand best.

[@black5f]

Maybe the police should concentrate more on what they are paid to do: that would be illegal firearms? Rather than those that are quite legally and safely owned. Statistics show that gun related crime of 2200 a year went actually down by 50%, only 1100 year in 2023 which is only 3 day? But that is just and only the official London statistics, none of course, were legally owned. So pick on us and it may make the problem go away?

[@davidoldboy5425]

What's with the opening dramatic turn around to the camera?? it's fieldsports not drama?

[@AurimasPuscius]

Ha. I said that will happen.

[@casperme6552]

I live in Gloucester. I tried to get a Fac but gave up because it was so hard work. I then tried to get a shotgun license, it was nothing but incompetence and delays from start to finish. Eventually, after over 18 months, I had a letter to tell me that they have cancelled my application because I hadn't replied to their last email in time (it somehow ended up in a very old, unused junk folder). I was told in a telephone conversation that they were very busy and had xxx amount of certificates to sort out, and only a few officers. I was also told, after 18 months and getting to the very last stage, that my ID photo was not acceptable and I should reapply with a new photo. I've stuck with my air rifle tbh👎👎

[@BruceWood-lv2uq]

They will be after all airguns soon.

[@nicolajaynehodson9223]

do you vote for the Selfservatives or Deform UK Ltd?

[@fredgillespie5855]

Lucky you live in England, in Scotland you would need a licence for your air rifle.

[@nixusthefurry]

I would rather it be a right with safety regulation in place then privlidges that can be abused and pushed aside because services are underfunded :c But I am extremely glad that people can come back to shooting their favourite discipline in peace soon. well... as soon as the power that be dont find it too annoying.