police visit

TeddyW86

Well-Known Member
so, i have applied for my firearms certificate for .22LR and .243, and have my cabinet installed. i have a visit arranged next week from the local firearms officer, what can i expect? can others share previous experiences of this? and does anybody have any advice? cheers
 
If they have said go on and install your cabinet then you should be home and dry.
Just be yourself, be polite and don`t be afraid to ask if there`s something your not sure of, they will help if they can.
Keep the tea and cakes flowing. :lol:
Good luck.
basil.
 
Mine asked how well I knew my referees and in what capacity, how much experience of firearms I had, where I intended to use them (I sent in a copy if lease agreement and map of area with application), was my property alarmed, suggested I changed my ammo allowance and had a quick look at my safe. She did mention several times that I should really have put in for a coterminous application to save myself £40 when my SGC expires.
 
Just be yourself and you should be fine. They will want to get a good understanding of who you are, what you do for a living, what you do socially etc.

One question they will ask is your attitude towards firearms in general.

Really they are just trying to build a picture of whether you are an honest law abiding type person who has good reason for possesion of firearms and a good attitude and understanding of firearms, and especially their safety.

If you are the above you should n't have any issues, if you are not then quite rightly you won't be granted a certificate. The fact you are bothering to ask the questions suggests you are in the former group!
 
Just be yourself and you should be fine. They will want to get a good understanding of who you are, what you do for a living, what you do socially etc.

One question they will ask is your attitude towards firearms in general.

Really they are just trying to build a picture of whether you are an honest law abiding type person who has good reason for possesion of firearms and a good attitude and understanding of firearms, and especially their safety.

If you are the above you should n't have any issues, if you are not then quite rightly you won't be granted a certificate. The fact you are bothering to ask the questions suggests you are in the former group!
 
as already said just be your self
they are not trying to catch you out
just getting a picture of what you are like
and dont forget if you are not sure about something ask
 
advice

Some forces are trying to push DSC onto new applicants. Dont want to start a whole new debate but be prepared for it. If you arent keen then say yo have mentors etc. I am curious about my renewal as the FLO was pushing DSC I wonder if it will be mentionned again
 
Guys I've been a member of this site for some time now but have only ever read the forums with interest and never posted until now.I wondered how long it would be until I'd be compelled to post and now is the time.Firstly I have to say I'm a firearms enquiry officer and have have almost 26 years behind me in the job,5 years full time in firearms.I have both certificates with deer stalking being my main thing. As this post states we only look for applicants to be themselves and show us that they genuinely have good reason for all firearms applied for as well as quantities of ammunition applied for.I'm surprised at the position of some forces who are being spoken of as pushing DSC on new applicants as I'd have to say they are over the top if doing so,there is no requirement for this and anyone in my position is in no position to push any such thing on applicants.If anyone has any qualifications then it simply shows that they have felt within themselves a need to further their knowledge/abilities in a particular field of shooting and good on anyone for that.If someone has taken the time to do any such things it shows in most cases that they are serious about their shooting and also displays a sense of responsibility towards what they are doing.
Hope the visit goes well TeddyW86 and you are successful.
 
gus1873 ,

at last ! an F.E.O , A REALLY GOOD POST there gus and i hope to read more from you in the future !

it is also good to read that you enjoy and partake in the shooting field , which in todays day and age a bloody rare thing !!

nearly all f.e.o 's i know are pen pushers ! i had to show mine what a 6.5x55 bullet looked like :confused:

ATVB lee
 
Gus,

Welcome to the forum.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

I have a new guy who I am taking on to help me out, he has been told he will have to have a 22rimfire for at least a year before he can have a fullbore, even though his good reason is deer.

His FEO has told him this is home office policy.

I have told him IMHO this is constructive refusal.
 
thankyou very much gus, very helpful. i am currently at college and i am taking part in a scheme with the local university that awards a certificate at the end of the year if the 5 modules are completed. they consist of meeting new challenges and all that bull****, and i have chosen one of them to be DSC L1 and one to be obtaining my firearms certificate and shotgun certificate. 2 bird with 1 stone i feel :)
 
Stand Buck....this is complete nonsense,all you need to do is to show GOOD REASON for whatever you are applying for,it doesn't matter a jot what you are applying for at the outset so long as you prove that you genuinely have good reason for all you have written on page 2 of the form.I can perhaps see a suggestion to someone who has made an application but has little or no experience to go and get some and given a particular set of circumstances doing so by using a .22rf and then coming back in for a larger calibre centrefire as well but neither I nor the colleagues I work with would be so specific as to say ' come back in a year ' and in most cases the person would be gaining the experience PRIOR to making an application anyway so would be able to apply for both calibres.If he were to get a .22rf first I wouldn't put a fixed period of time on when he could apply for a variation for the other rifle but only look for him gaining suitable experience which would easily be verified by contacting those who he has gained it with.I realise from my dealings with almost all forces throughout the UK that some work in very different ways to the way we do,some being ridiculously sticky in the way they deal with certain aspects of the job and others being unbelievably slack in both their work ethics and practices but none the less although each force will have a different way of doing things we really should all be working to the Home Office Guidelines of 2002 which are freely available for all to view on the net.
 
Thanks for your quick reply.

Now all I need to find out is which force you work for so that I can tell him where to move for a sensible FEO. ;)
 
Sometimes they will ask you who will look after the cabinet keys when you are on holiday or who will hold any spare set of such cabinet keys....

I am sure that you will know that cabinet keys, or spare sets of keys, cannot leave your possession, even when on holiday, or be given to any other person.
 
Seems some people have had different experiences with FLO's or FEO's or whatever the term is,for myself I dont recall having anyone who had any real experience at all in firearms visiting me for my renewals.
They all have been normal beat officers...one officer asked me my opinion on what happened in dunblane :(
The Licensing dept HQ in Inverness is however very efficient in handling enquiries etc

regards

Orionsarms
 
enfieldspares said:
I am sure that you will know that cabinet keys, or spare sets of keys, cannot leave your possession, even when on holiday, or be given to any other person.

That isn't exactly the case and also it wouldn't be practical to keep them with you at all times. Here's what the Firearms Security Handbook, (produced in 2005 by the Home Office, the Associations of Chief Police Officers in England, Wales and Scotland and the British Shooting Sports Council), says on the subject:

Safe-keeping of keys

2.59 Only authorised persons should have access to any of the keys for any cabinet etc containing firearms and section 1 ammunition. Care needs to be taken in selecting locations for the storage of keys, particularly any spare sets, to avoid them being discovered and improperly used.
 
gus1873 said:
.......we really should all be working to the Home Office Guidelines of 2002 which are freely available for all to view on the net.

Great to hear from an FEO who has an appreciation of the practical use of sporting firearms.

Gus, does your force use the June 2009 ACPO FELWG advised condition as in:

The (rifle/sound moderator/firearms/ammunition) shall be used for shooting (Named Principal Quarry Species) and any other lawful quarry, on land deemed suitable by the chief officer of police for the area where the land is situated, and for zeroing on ranges, over which the holder has lawful authority to shoot. (Delete italics where appropriate)

or do you specify each species or type of quarry? If the latter how does your force view having good reason for say a .308 for deer and conditioning for use on fox and vermin?
 
bac to the point, yesterday the visit went absolutley fine, no problems at all. the FAC should be in my hand just after new year.
 
All very interesting stuff, especially as I have my visit scheduled for next Saturday.
I applied for .17hmr and .22rf for pest species and .243 for deer, but since my application went in I found out that the land I have permission to shoot over is cleared for .223
My FEO called and said he has no problem with the .17hmr and .22rf but we need to have a chat about the .243
Good reason was provided in the form of a stalking reciept (on his advice) and a permission to shoot pest species form signed by a local farmer.

This has left me wondering whether he will insist that I gain more experience in the larger calibres using estate rifles and provide more reciepts or suggest a .270 or .308 for deer.
 
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