Thread: UK gun laws?

Under UK law you have to apply for a shotgun certificate to own a shotgun but the police cannot refuse you unless you have a criminal record or are unable to provide safe storage. Generally you have to buy an approved gun safe and bolt it to the wall of your house then invite the busies round to inspect it.

As for the rifle, you would require a firearms certificate which is a whole different ballgame. The police can refuse for almost any reason, will throughly investigate you, background check your referees, ask your doctor if you're a nutter, get special branch to investigate any political or religious connections and call you in for a face to face "interview". Even then there's more than a good chance you'll be refused.

+1 to Trewornan

The restrictions on firearms in the UK are draconian at the very least. You may apply for a licence, but unless you, your family & your associates are utterly squeaky clean, you will be refused. The presumption is that no one needs a firearm & you have to prove that you do. I have heard that most constabularies will refuse a licence for anything other than existing licensees, farmers & competitive standard shooters (not sure if that is the right term). Of course,as with most things in this glorious country it makes no sense at all. How is a person meant to get to a competition standard, if they can not practice???

PS You have more chance of being able to buy weapons grade plutonium than a sniper rifle

Spike, no ones squeaky clean.... but i bet if you had the right connections.... political or otherwise.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Spike, no ones squeaky clean.... but i bet if you had the right connections.... political or otherwise.

You mean like being an ex-pupil of the right school or a member of the funny handshake brigade?

something like that!

Originally Posted by Spike J

+1 to Trewornan
The restrictions on firearms in the UK are draconian at the very least. You may apply for a licence, but unless you, your family & your associates are utterly squeaky clean, you will be refused. The presumption is that no one needs a firearm & you have to prove that you do.

It's similar over here, though not as draconian.
You have to apply for a license, survive a background check (med and crim), be a member of a shooting club, and pass written and practical exams.

Like that guy who wanted to climb a hunting platform during the test, with a loaded shotgun on his back and the hammers ****ed...; yeah he didn't get one.

It's a bit of a hassle to get one, but I agree with the procedure (if not the details).
The criminals will still have guns, the same as before (although here, armed robbery is not common).
The procedures for getting a gun license simply weed out those too stupid / clumsy to pass the tests.

Originally Posted by Spike J

+
I have heard that most constabularies will refuse a licence for anything other than existing licensees, farmers & competitive standard shooters (not sure if that is the right term). Of course,as with most things in this glorious country it makes no sense at all. How is a person meant to get to a competition standard, if they can not practice???

PS You have more chance of being able to buy weapons grade plutonium than a sniper rifle

You HAVE to (by law) be a registered member of a gun club to apply for a license.
So usually the person would learn to shoot and handle guns at the club. Then he'd decide which weapon he wants to buy, and applies for a license.

EDIT: being a range owner comes with a lot more paperwork and regulations, but clubs are more free in the amount and types of weapons they are allowed to own.
So shooting ranges sometimes organize events where people can learn to shoot with an uzi, ak-47, sniper rifle, ...

trewornan is right. What nobody has mentioned however is that in todays current political climate in the UK you are even LESS likely to get the OK from the rozzers. With knife crime on the up and those of us on the UK meet up wondering how we should go about bringing a load of razors to one place.... well, lets just say with recent stabbings down south the police will be even LESS keen to dish out licences to carry than they were before.

Sorry.

As a side topic you dont mention WHERE in the UK you are, and I think this matters big time. For example down south in middle England you are probably more likely if using on private land. However up here in Scotland you are FAR less likely to get anything. It has been that way since the Dunblane massacre and TBH long may that attitude to gun carrying continue.

Its like they say- Guns dont kill people. People kill people. Guns make it alot easier to do though.

Sorry Sidney, but my experience has been completely different! Getting my shotgun cert was very straightforward; simply involved a background check, 4 passport photographs and 1 person of good repute to countersign the application. Oh, and a visit from Mr Plod to check that i had a gun cabinet and chat about what I wanted the shotgun for.

The firearms cert (for rifles) is more complicated, but is basically the same procedure with added checks. You need 2 referees, and you must be able to provide good reason for having the specific rifle you want to buy (eg written permission from a landowner for vermin control, or membership of a known target-shooting club). Which is fair enough I think.

Essentially, as long as you have good reason for wanting the guns or rifles then you will be granted the permission, provided you don't have a violent or criminal history.

Err, Sidney? "police will be even LESS keen to dish out licences to carry than they were before."?? I don't have a license to "carry" any sort of weapon, and neither do any of us. If I have a shotgun or rifle in a public place I must have it unloaded and completely secured in a proper case! (and even then I'd better have a reason, like I'm on the way to a shoot!)

I must say that I've found the police firearms people to be extremely helpful when i've made applications. Which police force did you have difficulties with?

Cheers,
Ian.

Iain,

First off, your definition of simple and mine seem vastly different. But then I guess it depends on how badly you want a gun.

Granted my word choice was slack. 'Carrying' a gun was not intended literally. Perhaps 'own' will satisfy you more. And I stand by what I said about the location that you apply for the gun affecting your success. I have never wanted a gun nor needed a gun but living in Stirling at the time of the Dunblane massacre you cannot help but see the public aversion to guns. Perhaps time has changed this- I no longer live there- but I suspect not.

Cheers,

Sidney

Hi Sidney,

Sorry, I misread your post and assumed that you'd had an application refused, or something of that nature!

Simple? Hell I dunno, it seemed easy enough for myself, the whole process took a few hours of my actual time and about 5 weeks waiting for the certificate to come through.

But didn't you say "However up here in Scotland you are FAR less likely to get anything."? i've had to make applications with 3 police forces in Scotland, each time problem-free. A friend of mine lives in Alva, near Stirling, and he shoots too with no certificate difficulties that he's ever mentioned. What are you basing the statement on?

Cheers,
Ian.