More Struggles on thier way for FAC holders?
This thread has the link to the full FOI disclosure - althouth the link quoted by TfI is the fruitiest bit.
It is alarming (though perhaps not surprising) to see what is going through the minds of the upper level of the Police on the subject of firearms licensing - it is almost as if they have seen the Law Commission review as an opportunity to suggest a list of increased restrictions based on whim rather than evidence: and supporting their general inclination to restrict law-abiding shooters as much as possible.
To be fair, I suspect that the folks on the front line at the FLDs will not have had much input into this submission - but it does make one wonder about what's been going through the minds of the generally very-reasonable-sounding police representatives at, for example, FELWG.
As I mentioned in the other thread, the removal of expanding bullets/ammuntion from S5 is the only suggestion which seems sensible. Even the change from five to ten-year validity falls down when you realise they want it to cost us the same per year in order to support some kind of '24/7 monitoring service for firearms incidents' - whatever that may mean.
The focus seems to be on:
1. Increasing costs (loss of free one-for-one, increase FAC/SGC and RFD duration without passing on the savings, charging for everything, including security visits and changes of address on certificates)
2. Increasing restricitions, but without evidence that public safety will be improved thereby (loss of self-loaders, .5" rifles, FAC-type controls for shotguns, airgun licensing, tighter control on 'borrowing' firearms on private premises - the list goes on...) Even right of appeal to the Crown Court is removed: wheras originally this right was of appeal to the much cheaper, quicker and more local Magistrates' Court.
I think it would be very useful if the authors of this submission, which after all is from one body of salaried public servants to another, were to justify their position in terms of the increase in cost and loss of freedom vs. increase in public safety.