BASC AGM 2022 and new BASC Film

[terrier1]

The outcome of the last fees review is here:

BASC welcomes new firearms fees - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

The UK's largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), has welcomed a firearms licensing fees order which has today been laid before Parliament. The order contains Government proposals to increase the fee for the grant of a shotgun certificate from...

basc.org.uk

So what happened to the ten year licenses in exchange for the medical certificate?

 

[B&W FOX]

So what happened to the ten year licenses in exchange for the medical certificate?

We got shafted

 

[terrier1]

BASC’s key requirements are as follows:

• The group will follow the 2014 Fees Working Group model of evidence-based costings of the licensing process.
• The group will identify and implement cost-saving efficiencies, delivered by the growing use of IT in the licensing process.
• The purpose of the system is to protect public safety and as such the public purse should pay a proportion of any fee.
• Ministers and the police have committed to a process that could deliver a 10-year certificate, providing cost savings and reducing the burden on the departments. The group needs to engage with this policy objective.
• There are 43 licensing authorities in England and Wales offering widely divergent levels of service, different interpretations and no standard training. This promotes inconsistencies and compromises

• Come on then Connor what happened to the 10 year certificate.

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

When have the police or the home office tuck any notice of what BASC have had to say.

I gave an example of this with the outcome of the last fees review.

BASC welcomes new firearms fees - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

The UK's largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), has welcomed a firearms licensing fees order which has today been laid before Parliament. The order contains Government proposals to increase the fee for the grant of a shotgun certificate from...

basc.org.uk

Another example here:

Government pulls .50 calibre ban for further consultation - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

BASC and other shooting organisations have welcomed amendments tabled by the government to the Offensive Weapons Bill.

basc.org.uk

Current work:

Training the enforcers

BASC's regional and national teams are offering practical firearms and wildlife management training free of charge to police forces across the country.

basc.org.uk

As regards ten year certificates there are some insights on that in Episode 17 of the BASC podcast:

Podcast

Each episode includes the latest news and views relating to shooting with expert analysis of shooting-related affairs and interviews.

basc.org.uk

 

[EMcC]

The medical report required to renew or take out a new FC is quite often more than the cost of the FC action taken.
Did BASC do any more than just pay lip service to this introduction.
When are they going to do something about Moderators, bits of metal pipe that go on the end of a rifle barrel.
The only time I did ask for help some time ago I was quoted the relevant firearms act, which I was fully aware of, and told to get on with it as it was up to my local firearms department to decide how much ammo I could have. New staff had cut me down from 500, which I had for years running range days and reloading,
to buy to 200. I expected someone from BASC to ask on my behalf why.
I pay my money each year and that's the only contact I have with them, I re-route the magazine, I don't even bother to read it any more, to a non member friend hoping he will find something interesting and join

 

[terrier1]

I gave an example of this with the outcome of the last fees review.

BASC welcomes new firearms fees - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

The UK's largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), has welcomed a firearms licensing fees order which has today been laid before Parliament. The order contains Government proposals to increase the fee for the grant of a shotgun certificate from...

basc.org.uk

Another example here:

Government pulls .50 calibre ban for further consultation - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

BASC and other shooting organisations have welcomed amendments tabled by the government to the Offensive Weapons Bill.

basc.org.uk

Current work:

Training the enforcers

BASC's regional and national teams are offering practical firearms and wildlife management training free of charge to police forces across the country.

basc.org.uk

As regards ten year certificates there are some insights on that in Episode 17 of the BASC podcast:

Podcast

Each episode includes the latest news and views relating to shooting with expert analysis of shooting-related affairs and interviews.

basc.org.uk

Can I ask every time you are asked a direct question you copy and paste aload of BASC rubbish on to the answer.
I would have thought a person in your position would be able to answer it in YOUR OWN WORDS.
So I will ask again what happen to the 10 year certificate?

 

[Sharpie]

As regards ten year certificates there are some insights on that in Episode 17 of the BASC podcast:

Podcast

Each episode includes the latest news and views relating to shooting with expert analysis of shooting-related affairs and interviews.

basc.org.uk

Thank you Conor. I found that podcast insightful.

It has clarified why it seems to me that the ten year medical certificate is not practical at the moment, because it is contingent on GPs embracing the tagging of FAC holders' records and becoming a continuous monitoring service, instead of the five year snapshot that we have now.

The systems required to do this are not yet universally in place, starting with a tag being put on the FAC/SGC holders records, but are being worked on. There is a lot of complex IT needed to run a GP practice nowadays, several different and not mutually compatible systems in use.

The BMA's position, following the new Home Office Statutory Guidance of November 2021, is available at Guidance for GPs on the firearms licensing process Well worth a read, for anyone unsure of how things now have to work following the new Statutory guidance.

It also details what might be considered relevant medical conditions in the appendix at the end.

As well as the other options available to an applicant where their GP is unwilling to participate, or seeks to charge a seemingly excessive fee for this work. And work it is, outwith the remit of the NHS, for some GPs of whom we have a shortage, and who are generally mostly hard working.

"As you are not contracted to provide these services under the GMS contract, you are entitled to charge the applicant your reasonable fee."

My personal view is that making it mandatory to have a medical report, based on your GP records, rather than discretional as it was before, is a correct decision.

I gave an example of this with the outcome of the last fees review.

BASC welcomes new firearms fees - The British Association for Shooting and Conservation

The UK's largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), has welcomed a firearms licensing fees order which has today been laid before Parliament. The order contains Government proposals to increase the fee for the grant of a shotgun certificate from...

basc.org.uk

I also observe that the modest fee increase of 2015 has not been increased since then. And overall I do not think is much of a barrier to many, e.g. per year a Co-terminus grant costs £18, or a renewal £13. Or a variation (not one-for-one, still free) £20.

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

@EMcC we have been trying to find a solution since the 2016 Home Office guidance around medical involvement in firearms licensing in England and Wales broke down a fortnight after it launched when the BMA ratted on the agreement.

Since around 2013 we had argued for and secured agreement across the government, police and doctors that there would be "no expectation of a fee". After pulling out of the agreement the BMA held the government to ransom by saying they would not participate without a fee. The government, which had problems with the doctors at that time were not prepared to take them on and the Home Office decided that this was a matter between the applicant and their doctor.

It has been a challenging issue and progress has been slow but we will not give up and we will keep fighting for improvements to firearms licencing. As an interim measure we introduced the BASC medical panel to assist those members whose doctors won't co-operate or charge excessive fees. We successfully argued during the debates over the new statutory guidance that any registered medical practitioner could verify a certificate application, when some doctors and some police wanted it to be only the GP.

Firearms medical certificates with ShootCert

BASC works with ShootCert to provide a trusted, quality medical verification service for firearms grant and renewal applicants.

basc.org.uk

If you would like me to look into your concerns about the advice you received on ammo allowance please email me at conor.ogorman@basc.org.uk

@terrier1 please listen to Episode 17 of the BASC podcast:

Podcast

Each episode includes the latest news and views relating to shooting with expert analysis of shooting-related affairs and interviews.

basc.org.uk

@Sharpie thanks for sharing your take-away synopsis from the podcast - and info on the GP guidance. Recently the government has rolled out an IT update for GPs in England allowing them to put an interactive marker on the notes of patients with certificates. We have been arguing that if take up is good it would justify extending the term of certificates to ten years. We have had agreement from Ministers and this issue is likely to come to a head during the current discussions on certificate fees.