Interesting positon from Police on FAC Conditions

[Vulpes]

Hi All,

So to set the scene I've had my FAC for 3 years but my rifles for only 2 and a half years. Today I emailed my FEO to ask to have the closed condition removed with justification (number of rounds used, new permissions etc etc) and recieved a very interesting response back which I wasn't expecting.

The process is this regarding removal of CoP Condition:
The condition is a ‘public safety’ issue and is normally removed after 5 years at first renewal. It can be removed after 3 years if requested by the applicant without further evidence – (this is because historically it was removed on first renewal when FAC’s ran for 3 years).
Anytime less than 3 years, the applicant must show that they are capable of assessing land and that land is agreed by the FLD to be suitable for that particular calibre. The process for this is that the applicant finds a piece of land which is not already approved and assesses it as suitable for the calibre. If, after a land check, the land is deemed suitable then that land is added to the applicant’s file. Once the applicant has found 3 pieces of land which he assesses are suitable and after a land check they are deemed as such, the Chief Officer condition may be removed.

This surprise anyone else? The force is Thames Valley.

Cheers!

 

[plonker]

Wtf!!
Thats mental, never heard of that "chuckle brothers" method for an open license

 

[Magnificent 7]

Mine was removed after three months due to it being unworkable I was getting numerous calls from local farmers to control.foxs and deer I'd taken 16 deer in the three months and numerous other animals done both dsc1 and dsc2 explained that i was losing permission due to not being able to go also added a letter from my mentor whom got me into stalking in the first place who is quite a well known stalking man in our area and also well known to the police for the correct reasons they were happy to issue an open ticket everyone and every force is different.

 

[CarlW]

Hi All,

So to set the scene I've had my FAC for 3 years but my rifles for only 2 and a half years. Today I emailed my FEO to ask to have the closed condition removed with justification (number of rounds used, new permissions etc etc) and recieved a very interesting response back which I wasn't expecting.

The process is this regarding removal of CoP Condition:
The condition is a ‘public safety’ issue and is normally removed after 5 years at first renewal. It can be removed after 3 years if requested by the applicant without further evidence – (this is because historically it was removed on first renewal when FAC’s ran for 3 years).
Anytime less than 3 years, the applicant must show that they are capable of assessing land and that land is agreed by the FLD to be suitable for that particular calibre. The process for this is that the applicant finds a piece of land which is not already approved and assesses it as suitable for the calibre. If, after a land check, the land is deemed suitable then that land is added to the applicant’s file. Once the applicant has found 3 pieces of land which he assesses are suitable and after a land check they are deemed as such, the Chief Officer condition may be removed.

This surprise anyone else? The force is Thames Valley.

Cheers!

I've never heard of that before.
Kind regards,
Carl

 

[deerstalker.308]

Wow. You’ll be doing well finding 3 bits of ground, never mind the rest, what utter booooolllllocks....!

 

[Shootgun]

Heard loads of horror stories lately about Thames Valley police....

 

[Sampo]

You just hear sometime new each day. As far as I have been told, no new grounds are being cleared owing to CV and the conditions won't be automatically removed at the first renewal. In case of target shooters, there is no need for them to have an open ticket and someone who may be controlling vermin for multiple local farms owing to the nature of the work could be issued with an open ticket. I don't believe there's any particular rule as such but based on the risk level, experience, common sense and justification, each police decides to vary conditions on a case by case basis.

 

[Hanechdene]

What’s the name of the FEO? Is his Christian name Jim by any chance?

 

[Pedro]

The FEO is the Firearms ENQUIRY officer. He goes and checks your cabinet, contacts your referees and does all the other necessary enquiries. He doesn't decide whether you get a certificate, whether your certificate is renewed or whether it's opened up or not. So don't necessarily take his word as gospel. What he is saying to you might be TV Police policy. Or he may have it a bit wrong somewhere, as it's not specifically his job although he'll make recommendations. So it may well be worth getting hold of the FLO (Firearms LICENCING) officer, who does make these decisions.

However, with the current policy of only dealing with renewals at present, I suspect that even if the FEO is correctly quoting things, if your ticket is 2.5 years old now, by the time things are back on an even keel, you'll have had it 3+ years probably. Can't see restrictions being lifted one day and firearms licencing being back in full swing immediately.

 

[Magnificent 7]

I spoke with mine and explained the situation and he was happy to open it after I'd submitted the reference ect and he actually called my referee to confirm

 

[Mud Stuffin]

That is truly astonishing from the FEO!

 

[The Singing Stalker]

When I was with Thames valley my Feo said something completely different.

 

[B&W FOX]

BASC will be all over this.

The voices told me to write it.

 

[Vulpes]

Ok not just me then
In fairness to the FEO he has been good as gold otherwise, as others mentioned I think this is just TVP Policy being completley out of touch again rather than one FEO but I'd never heard it before.

 

[Farmer_J]

This is far from what I have been told, and I’m the same force. I was told the minimum I’d be able to get an open cert is 3 years, not to even bother asking before then.

 

[Mike L]

I got my open cert after 8 months.

 

[Zetter]

Same force and when I asked about getting open after 3 years really just on my FAC air and .22lr I basically got told first renewal unless you can show you were picking up loads of uncleared permissions. At my first renewal I asked for open on all rifles including my .243 due to doing paid stalks and wanting to do some stalking in Scotland and got open no issues across all rifles.

 

[Liveonce]

More of the same firearms departments making it up as they go along. Ask them where in the firearm laws or HOG2016 it states that as you are having trouble finding it.

 

[finnbear270]

There is a desk somewhere down behind the overall cabinets, behind the hot water pipes, back of the vehicle workshops, where someone sits who was at some time in the past a wannabee lawyer, tasked with bringing ever more hoops for the law abiding to squeeze through.

 

[sikamalc]

Indeed if this is true, and I am not saying I disbelieve the OP, it again smacks of total inconsistency across the whole system. I have never heard of such a ridiculous request for a firearms owner.