If a constable knocked at your door and asked to come in and you refused, he would have to go away. He can't simply take the line "aha, you must be up to something" so I'll get a warrant.
Fortunately, that isn't the law. Case law resulting from PACE states that mere suspicion ("I think you're up to something") is not reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion must be based on something concrete (concrete being the word used in the judgement). So if an officer encounters someone on the street at 2am and he's carrying a holdall, and the officer is aware that a burglary in which silver cutlary was stolen occurred only ten minute ago and not far from there, he might suspect he has the burglar but, thus far, he has no resonable grounds for suspicion. However, if the officer hears clanking from the holdall and thus reasonably thinks it it might be the stolen cutlery then at that point he has reasonable grounds for suspicion. Similarly, telling an officer who comes knocking at your door asking to see your firearms that he cannot come in is most definitely not 'reasonable cause to suspect' a crime is being or is about to be committed.
If an unannounced constable arrives at your door saying he's undertaking a 'spot check' of your firearms, you can tell him it isn't convenient, he should is to go away and if he wants to check your firearms he should make an appointment. And you, as a responsible FAC holder, could prepare eveything for when the police returns to examine your guns, FAC and any other paperwork, and if they want to spend their time doing it, count your ammo stocks.
If an officer has reasonable grounds for suspecting that you are committing a firearms offence, then he should get a search warrant from a magistrate. If when he comes knocking he already has a search warrant in his back pocket, he will typically ask you if he can come in and see your guns - without telling you that he has a warrant. He will do this because it makes things easier for him: a search warrant restricts what he can do, if you agree to him coming into yoru home he isn't restricted in that way. So explicitly ask him whether he has a warrant. If he does, tell him he will have to execute it as you refuse entry otherwise. Explain that you are not simply being awkward but by making him execute the warrant it protects your interests. If a constable executes a search warrant, then:
- only the persons named on the warrant may enter; if one officer is specifically named then only he may enter, not an entire search team (this is a clerical error on the part of the police); I have seen warrants that name a specific officer and other warrants that said "all the officers of [named constabulary]"
- he is only permitted to search for the items named on the warrant; if he is searching for a rifle, then the warrant would not authorise him to search, for example, through your desk drawers as a rifle could not be hidden there; the warrant more typically would say something like "firearms and component parts, ammunition and components, and documents"
- once he has found the items named on the warrent, he must leave immediately
- as the subject of the warrant, you are immediately entitled to a solicitor paid for by legal aid - so phone one immediately (not that all solicitors would know the foregoing)
- the police must create a search log
Be aware that under PACE, a constable lawfully upon any premises "may sieze any thing", with or without a warrant.
As for 'spot checks', I should have thought that most constabularies were too busy to spend their time that way.
Hope this helps.
-JMS
