Dealers registers must be computerised by 31st December 2014
- Thread starter BASC Firearms Dept
- Start date
PointBlank
Well-Known Member
Hopefully we are getting one step closer to your FAC being on a credit card and you just swipe it at your dealer when you make a purchase, that would be a real advance!
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
And when the authorities are confident that the new computerised system works perhaps they will think again about whether restrictions on quantities of ammunition possessed and applying "good reason" to each individual rifle rather than to the shooter continues to serve any useful purpose.
When these restrictions were introduced nearly 100 years ago it was to prevent individuals accumulating an arsenal of weaponry with which to overthrow George V, the world has moved on since then and surely they have no particular relevance to modern shooting sports. atb Tim
Talk about a 'last minute' volte face:
19th December 2014. No. 41
The Home Office has revisited its position on the implementation of article 4(4) of the EU Weapons Directive 2008/51 (amending Council Directive 91/477).
“We, the Home Office, appreciate that it is not ideal to be changing our approach at this late stage. However, we have reconsidered the scope of the requirements and have decided that rather than mandating firearms dealers to computerise their records we will rely on the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS), with both police and firearms dealers continuing to record information at current levels. Records will still need to be recorded and maintained for 20 years. This means that firearms dealers can continue to keep paper-based records although we would continue to recommend computerised records as a matter of best practice.”
19th December 2014. No. 41
The Home Office has revisited its position on the implementation of article 4(4) of the EU Weapons Directive 2008/51 (amending Council Directive 91/477).
“We, the Home Office, appreciate that it is not ideal to be changing our approach at this late stage. However, we have reconsidered the scope of the requirements and have decided that rather than mandating firearms dealers to computerise their records we will rely on the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS), with both police and firearms dealers continuing to record information at current levels. Records will still need to be recorded and maintained for 20 years. This means that firearms dealers can continue to keep paper-based records although we would continue to recommend computerised records as a matter of best practice.”
StalkingKent
Well-Known Member
I wonder how many firearms dealers had already purchased the expensive software?
teyhan1
Well-Known Member
If I were a firearms dealer i would be taking action against the government for compensation.
Seriously, if they were supposed to have it in place for the New Year then most will have already installed it as they are not going to get anything done between Xmas and New Year and there are only 3x working days to Xmas.
It is time they handed this debacle of licensing to a private company.
Seriously, if they were supposed to have it in place for the New Year then most will have already installed it as they are not going to get anything done between Xmas and New Year and there are only 3x working days to Xmas.
It is time they handed this debacle of licensing to a private company.
i have not read the info in the link yet but so far i can't find anyone to tell me what a this actually means in practice , i have been told an excel spreadsheet will be sufficient but no one will confirm in writing.
Bandit Country
Well-Known Member
What - you mean like G4S? I'm all for more efficient and effective licensing, but spare me the money-grubbing incompetents who let people die in their custody and can't recruit adequate numbers of security staff despite having God knows how long to do the job.... Or SERCO? No, wait - didn't they rob the taxpayer by claiming to be tagging more crims than they actually did? Or maybe Capita - but didn't they oversee the defrauding of the public purse to the tune of £60 million - at which point they stopped counting.... ?
I suspect this volte face is more to do with a number of recent successful legal challenges to the Government's 'Digital by Default' doctrine. HMRC got knocked back on that one and DEFRA are being bombarded with complaints from farmers who simply don't have the technology (or skills?) to do everything online.
Redleicester
Well-Known Member
Wasn't just literacy - a lot of farms simply don't have access to dialup Internet, let alone broadband.
Well, a spreadsheet is, or would have been, sufficient (I have been using one for the last 9 years). All it needs to do is record data that would normally be in the manual register, and be searchable. The thing is, with this announcement, it's not now required anyway.
Some dealers, based on the 'now defunct' new requirements, have bought expensive software which maintains a digital register and does other things like accounts etc - I bet they are not too happy right now.
Akeld
Well-Known Member
There was no need to purchase any expensive software, it could all be done on excel or similar
i have used a spreadsheet for years and printed a back up out to be safe.
Keith
Keith
Northumbria were just as happy with the dealer using a spread sheet providing backups were maintained.
Iain
Northern Sportsman Ltd
My club rfd was not looking forward to the change, he's in his mid 60's and has only just grasped emails and he said he has over 300 firearms to put on a computerised system.
And remember the computerised data is only as accurate as the entries, I could forsee lots of inaccurate records being kept due to mishaps when doing lots of entries. We actually had a great example at the club as another member (supposedly a computer wiz) offered to help him build an excel spreadsheet for both gun register and club member register, well it didn't go too well as a couple of weeks ago I dropped into the club and the owner said I've got some bad news for you your membership expired last month, err no I said this was renewed in April, he said no my records show November, so I got my membership card out and showed him expires 31st March 2015 and signed by him. It turned out this so called computer wiz member had entered all the membership details into an excel spreadsheet then sorted into alphabetical order but appears not to have moved the expiry date cells too, he was livid as he then had to sit and go through all the new data and check it from his old manual system to correct it all.
And remember the computerised data is only as accurate as the entries, I could forsee lots of inaccurate records being kept due to mishaps when doing lots of entries. We actually had a great example at the club as another member (supposedly a computer wiz) offered to help him build an excel spreadsheet for both gun register and club member register, well it didn't go too well as a couple of weeks ago I dropped into the club and the owner said I've got some bad news for you your membership expired last month, err no I said this was renewed in April, he said no my records show November, so I got my membership card out and showed him expires 31st March 2015 and signed by him. It turned out this so called computer wiz member had entered all the membership details into an excel spreadsheet then sorted into alphabetical order but appears not to have moved the expiry date cells too, he was livid as he then had to sit and go through all the new data and check it from his old manual system to correct it all.