Word of warning, Grant or renewal information.

[User00026]

In reply to the posts above, I did withhold relevant facts.
I had symptoms of depression, admittedly it was 21 years ago (when i was 17 years old following my parents separation) but the question does ask have you ever been treated for depression ! No time scale is given.
Medical records go back to your birth !

ah, now that is starting to make sense. accept my apologies, I thought it had nothing to do with 'relevant' medical conditions. I can see how you may have forgotten about something that long ago, and to be fair, you may not even have been aware that your GP had put down 'depression' on your medical records.

still, I don't think you've been treated very fairly and I still don't think anyone needs to disclose any non-relevant facts.

one thing you can do is request a copy of your medical records prior to completing the renewal, to ensure your GP has not put down something you didn't know about or that you are unhappy with being on your records.

 

[spforrest]

I also did not mention current minor conditions, I did not feel were relevant. At the meeting the officer agreed they are not relevant. However I should have disclosed them so they could decide wether they were relevant or not.
​

 

[stalker.308]

In reply to the posts above, I did withhold relevant facts. I had symptoms of depression, admittedly it was 21 years ago (when i was 17 years old following my parents separation) but the question does ask have you ever been treated for depression ! No time scale is given. Medical records go back to your birth !

Bloody hell 99 posts later and the true nature of why the police interest in you finally comes out. what a waste of time this thread has been. you don't have to tell everyone your medical conditions on a forum but when you with hold the vital info of this thread and make it look like the police are being unreasonable it is wrong.

 

[SaltLick]

Bloody hell 99 posts later and the true nature of why the police interest in you finally comes out. what a waste of time this thread has been. you don't have to tell everyone your medical conditions on a forum but when you with hold the vital info of this thread and make it look like the police are being unreasonable it is wrong.

^ This +1.

So not telling them about a long ago depression is the real reason. I guess that's valid, but you've mislead everyone here.
if you didn't want to disclose your previous depression that's fine, but effectively lying about why plod was after you is just silly.

What a wasted thread!

 

[Dalua]

To be fair, as the OP has pointed out, question 15c is limited in its scope to attending a GP for treatment of depression or other mental or nervous disorder. For a GP to record that the OP had 'symptoms of depression' as a lad in the context of domestic stress doesn't in my necessarily count as a diagnosis of depression proper, although I suppose if the OP attended the GP for treatment of those symptoms, even if no diagnosis was made and no treatment was offered, it would need to be included in answer to Q15c.

Arguably, it might be better if the question asked whether you'd ever been diagnosed by a medical or other health practitioner as suffering from depression etc, so as to include diagnosis/treatment by practitioners other than a GP.

 

[paul o']

think there is a time bar on so called depression, seam to remember it has to be within 10yrs ,in this case thay will request you attened a docter ! choice would be not there's!! one can say i feel deprested to day ! it do's mean you are a nutter, its sad that some will jump at this chap i bet there are lots that have pointed the wagin finger that have felt depressed! at say the loss of a dog or a job etc,if you look into ones life after a loss or a sad time it could mean that at that time you too were depressed!!.and not so whiter than white . yup the chap led us on a trail of less than 100% and he has now held up his hands well done feller not easy thing to do after 90 odd post trying to help you out? maybe you should have come clean and just gone to basc or other 1st off.
if you a med problem then sorry basc prob won't wish to know, as the law is now so crawl and happy to put anyone on a cross. this has been a life wakeup for us all not telling or giveing a true statment often will make folks think the worst of you and never forgive you or hold out a helping hand.

i do hope it comes out right for you

 

[Labrat]

To me this only reinforces the stigma associated with mental health problems, and in the long term the result of this approach will be that shooters who ARE in need of help will avoid going to their doctors. So the very people most in need of help will go untreated or self medicate with alcohol - and the results of that don't bear thinking about.

​There's got to be a better way!

 

[The Seeker]

Wow that took some ploughing through. So in the end you didn't disclose something you should have done and it wasn't anything to do with disclosing minor ailments

"15c Have you ever attended your present or a previous General Practitioner (GP) for treatment for depression or any other kind of mental or nervous disorder? If Yes give details"

Glad you got it sorted bud but this thread has bee very long for something that could have been explained quickly

​ATB

 

[jay 22]

Well I fall under west marcia and so do my old man. He has had bone cancer for the last 3 years
His renewal is coming up for shotgun. And there waiting on doctors report now. But doesn't sound good for him.

Can't make out why there making a issue with it tho. Because they new about this and last year when he put one of my rifles on his fac ticket he had to show them a copy of the meds he was on.

We are waiting to hear outcome before talking to people he has shooting insurance with

 

[stalker.308]

You are mistaken. not one person has jumped on him for the depression that is somethig you have fabricated. what people are saying since the depression came to light is that it now all makes sense why the police have taken the course they have because they de take depression seriously. yes it was a long time ago, but having an interview under caution for not declaring previous depression is another thread completely.The reason this thread has raised so much interest is because if this case was as originally portrayed as police demanding everything such as common cold be put down and it had been upheld the consequences for the rest of us would have been extremely complicated come renewal. as it is all is as we all expect! just put down those things directly relevant to fac which includes all previous depression.

 

[David63]

Just to clarify the point about helping this chap although he is not a member, the firearms team have a 'rule' that is a non member calls for help or advice, and provided this does not impact on a case they are working on for a member at that time, then one of the officers will give the non member nominally 15 mins free advice. In reality this 15 min may go on a bit longer!

Depending on the case, we may well attend the interview with the member, this is often undertaken by one of the regional team , but most times members are more than happy take the interview on their own once they have been briefed by one of our team.

It does sound like a significant over reaction by the police, but we must remember that in this part of the world the licencing teams are being overtly risk averse...so if in doubt about any of the questions on the application or renewal form, call your shooting organisation and or your licencing team to check exactly what information they want.
David

 

[timbrayford]

I can understand why the police have reacted this way.

Some time in the very distant past the OP went to his GP with a mental health concern which it would appear has long since resolved itself. However, when it came to filling in his certificate form he omitted to mention this and the police to their credit diligently carried out their background checks and discovered the omission.

Rather than refuse the application they interviewed the OP about his current circumstances.

I can quite understand the OP innocently overlooking something that happened long ago and I think that the police response was most reasonable.

atb Tim

 

[2130martin]

In reply to the comments above, Yes it was a Legal caution.
I have seen the GP for a abscess on my buttock (very painful but relevant ?) and a in growing toe nail, I have also had the Flu !
It's not what the conditions are more the fact I didn’t disclose them. Mr Gain' and Vipa's comment are exactly right.
Just put EVERYTHING down, then the FLO can decide what’s relevant or not. None of my conditions are relevant to owning firearms (or so I thought) but it’s the non-disclosure that’s upset them.
and NO I don't stay in a locked ward ! LOL at least not yet anyway !

Looks like you missed off the "depression at 17".....that is relevant and will probably save about 100 odd posts on this thread........

 

[RickoShay]

There is something that comes out of this long thread that may help 'some'; that is diagnosis and what your medical records say.
You may genuinely not know you have a diagnosis for mental or nervous disorders but may have sought advice for something you were not uncertain of, but nothing came of it (you basically got better).

You can ask your local GP and surgery if you can review your medical records (you are entitled to do this under FOI) to ascertain for yourself what they do, and do not say. You can then go forward with a clear conscience or new information.

Separately, never accept a 'Caution' it is a disposal method that results in a criminal record, one which would be unlikely to have otherwise been pursued by the CPS; no matter how uncomfortable once cautioned under PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act) get a lawyer, the Police will not be prejudice towards you for doing this.

​Intergrity and honesty seems to be a reasonable thing for the Police to expect from applicants.