Advice on gun licence being revoked please.

[kenbro]

Carry on and enjoy shooting air rifles.
Much better than nowt!
Ken.

 

[fishingcinma]

In regards to the speeding offences, there are no time limits to this or any other minor offences. There is also a dishonesty offence. It shows a pattern of behaviour. When it comes to offenses involving violence you will lose you guns regardless if it's a section 39 or a section 18. Again regardless if you accept a caution charged or issued with community resolution. Fld can and will use incidents where you may have not been charged and nfa against you. In regards to the process if you are involved in an incident after hours the control room inspector will request a voluntary surrender or issue a revocation. Once the risk has been removed and the criminal offences have been sorted one way or the other the matter will then be passed back to the fld. The flm will then decide if you are a suitable person to possess firearms. If you are you will have you're property returned. So removing guns then carrying out investigation is the standard way of operating.

Thank you for your reply, I understand that removing guns then carrying out the investigation is the standard way of operating, the guns were removed the same day the letter was written so seems the investigation had already been done. Incident 21/02/25 first police interaction 24/02/25 cro issued, 26/02/25 Guns surrendered. 1/3/25 letter received revoking licence letter dated 26/02/25.

 

[fishingcinma]

Well done for standing up to the man who was harassing your daughter. Family is more important than some bits of metal and wood. With regard to firearms, as others have said maybe for the next five years consider pursuing other activities as you may be surprised as to what catches your attention. For example, shooting has been my main sport since I was young but during lockdown I got into running to try to lose weight and now if I had to choose between shooting and running I would pick running.

Thank you I agree Family is far more important than metal being honest I've not shot since 2023 when I had to have an unexpected triple heart bypass and recovery has not happened still trying to find out if grafts took so wouldn't be able to shoot currently. Have decided not to appeal.

 

[fishingcinma]

Thank you all for your comments, I really appreciate them and it's been a big help in making the decision to not appeal.

I've not been able to shoot since 2023 anyhow as had to have an unexpected triple heart bypass, they state recover is 12 weeks but I'm still trying to get answers as to why I've not recovered and wouldn't have risked shooting until I have.

 

[fishingcinma]

Ok - so the advice on here is a mix of good, bad and questionable. For clarity, I am a solicitor, I don't practice firearms law (although I take a strong interest) and I am not professing to offer you any legal advice here, not least because I cannot be sure that I have all the facts. This is just friendly guidance, as others are offering, but tempered with some direct knowledge of the police and the court system.

Appeal - if the money isn't an bar, go ahead and do it within the 21 days - clock is running, there is no way to extend that period. It will cost you at least £10k, perhaps more depending who you use (and pay peanuts, get monkeys, remember). There is a case here that a competent and experienced legal professional can make. It certainly isn't black and white that you have a continuous history making you unsuitable. -Most of those speeding offences have been not only eclipsed by time, but also the police have already accepted that there is no course of behaviour to concern them by renewing your certificates several times since then. If it was an issue, they should have revoked long since.

As for reapplying now or in five years - appealing does not prevent you from doing this either.

Conversation with the FLO? Waste of time now in my opinion. The decision to revoke was made, very quickly, so they won't alter that on discussion with the FLO, however nice a guy he tells them you are.

Ultimately, police forces now take the approach of seizing and revoking first, asking questions later in many more situations than ever before. It is a question of risk management - they don't want to manage the risk of another Plymouth happening in their back yard. They'd much rather it got punted off to a judge to deal with than hear that their Chief Constable was being criticized for giving someone back their guns. That is the nub of it, sadly.

Thank you for your honest detailed opinion it is very helpful.

Correct it seems the decision had already been made when the police came to ask me to surrender my guns as the letter received over the weekend was dated 26-02-25

 

[maxtich]

So hypothetically..if an independent Rfd was to find himself or similar situation..through NO fault of his own..rather victim of crime..outside his business side ..(I would like to add)..would he also loose his Rfd status and livelihood?

 

[Spear Chucker]

Seek best legal counsel you can afford...if you think you have a fair chance, seek a solicitor and "after the fact" legal fee insurance. More expensive than before the fact but it offers some protection. Police forces have limited funding for fighting legal challenges.

 

[ContinShots]

I think that three minor speeding offences 18/19years ago are completely irrelevant and absolutely no sort of justification for revoking a licence. The fact they listed them is indicative of an unreasonable attitude on the part of the police when assessing your suitability.

I think your mistake was to accept the sanction you received for handling that person. Generally speaking, someone ought never accept a caution or other non-judicial sanction without having taken legal advice. It may be the case that there was some procedural impropriety in issuing this.
Anything you do about this will be fairly expensive and only you can judge if it's worthwhile, but I'd think there was sufficient scope for getting advice to challenge on
A) The incident with the other person wasn't handled well by anyone and because the police sought to deal with it by avoiding a court case nobody has independently assessed what happened. (It might have been self-defence of your daughter...or it might not).
B) That th epokice may have acted unreasonably in its decision to revoke by relying on a series of minor traffic offences decades ago which are not usually any cause for police concern at all. (Since they aren't proper crimes but just licensed extortion by the police.)

The problem these days is that the police can and do consider absolutely anything, particularly when it relates to violence. Even if he hadn't accepted that order, the whole incident would still be on file and the police FLD woyls probably have placed the same weight on it. That said, given all but on of the issues occurred prior to him being granted his certificate, it's not impossible that a good lawyer could argue that the speeding pattern of behaviour had already been considered by the FLD when granting the certificate and with the recent incident being of a different nature and (according to the OP) perhaps with a defending a child from harassment and danger component, it might be possible to launch a credible defence. I still think it'd be an uphill struggle though. It would be best to take proper legal advice before making a final decision. However, my own advice would always be to never lay hands on anyone, not unless your own life etc depends on it. In this day and age, it is just not worth the fallout.

 

[pmacnab]

I know people who have had similar or slightly worse circumstances and like others have said, gave it 5 years and got all licences back. Good luck

 

[Muirmains]

Sad sad sad . This is how they roll , could happen to anyone I know many same thing even worse . Revoked because intelligence they have . No charges no nothing just intelligence they have of “insert offence”. You could be revoked for allegedly calling someone a name I ain’t kidding . 5 year thing is what they seem to do nothing inlaw just what they dictate.

 

[TringSaint]

I knew a chap who lost his license because he admitted to throwing a pillow at his soon to be ex partner during an argument.
She called the police, claimed he was being violent and threatening, saying he was throwing things at her and that he held an fac. The police duly rocked up in force, interviewed her, arrested him, questioned him about the incident to which he confirmed he had thrown a pillow and he was then charged with an order similar to the OP and had his license revoked.

All for a pillow! Bit it showed a lack of control on his part.