MPs looking at changing licensing rules

I think you guys need to get your spears and bows out and start practicing.
£500 every 3 years will kill private ownership.
 
Just in case anyone needed to be reminded there is no political party, either active or waiting in the wings, that will champion firearms ownership in any shape or form. Period.

The only road is down so get use to it and take a view on how much pain you’re willing to accept in pursuing your passion. You can do know more as reversing the general disdain for shooting that is to be encountered throughout society and the authorities that limit our interest, would be like seeking to disinvent the wheel.

K
 
Fundamentally this case has feck all to do with Firearms Licencing, but everything to do with criminal activity. Two people have been charged with serious offences in connection with this incident.

If they were not in possession with firearms they could quite easily have used knives, axe, baseball bat or a car to achieve the same end.

The real question is whether or not Police followed procedures on licencing and whether or not the individuals in question had a a history of violence and / or aggressive behaviour and whether or not this was known to the police.

In the old days if you acted as a referee you had to fill in a questionnaire, sign it and submit it to the Police. You also had to be a person of “good standing” ie a director, professional, doctor, lawyer etc.

Nowadays as a referee you just get a phone from PC Pat and he asks “do you know Fred, he has put you down as a reference”. A one word answer and thats it. I would at leadt expect a bit more thorough questioning.
 
The biggest cost to the Police is not the time taken on approving whether or not the candidate is suitable to hold firearms, its the time spent on the endless debate over whether a ,6783 NWC a suitable calibre for a particular candidate to use on a particular piece of ground etc.

Even the new mandatory home office say the focus needs to be on the individual and once approved then choice of calibre is pretty irrelevant.

If there is doubt in the minds of the powers that be as to whether or not the Police have the skills and resources to assess sutability, rather than just raising the price, there needs to be - as in most other countries, a clear pathway and training program for shooters to go through. It’s clearly understood by all and weeds out those who are not suitable.

Mind you having just driven the length of the M6 and seeing how many cars still drive at high speed in the fast lane even though its shown as closed due to an accident and the rest is shown at 40mph, what the UK needs is not yet more legislation but actual law enforcement and education.
 
Hmmm. The “pricing out” of “documentation“ for a firearm as a strategy to “discourage” ownership is hardly a new strategy. From memory (dangerous) the US did it with a certain firearm made by a Mr Thompson about a hundred years or so ago I believe - something of the order of $200 which of course was a lot of money back then but apparently not for those chaps called Nelson, Dillinger, Moran, Capone et al……
🦊🦊
 
The point is a gentleman, if the powers that be say an FAC is going to be £500, it’s going to be £500, there is nobody, single person or organisation that has got the clout to fight it!

The government will do whatever the government wants to do, we hold no political clout, there is not enough of us in the UK to form any kind of particular political sway. We are quite what is commonly known as up the swannie without a paddle, enjoy it, while you can afford it
 
500 for a decent service is bugger all really, less than a costa coffe a day, less than sky or netflix, most driven days. 50p a day roughly. id pay it. wont pay basc to agree to it

£500 at 50p / day?. Must be more than a quid a day at 365 days a year!
 
The thing is, should firearms applicants pay all the costs of their licencing? we pay for the police anyway with our taxes. Their responsibilities include keeping the great British public safe, which obviously involves keeping guns away from people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near them.

However, there is also the counter-argument that if you want the cops to do the enquiries to decide whether you should keep guns, you should pay for that.

As with many things, there should be a compromise. Paying a percentage of the costs is the way to go I think. Which, I'm sure is what we do at present. I suspect the checks and enquiries that are done these days are more than they ever were, so whether in the long or short term, I can only see the price of grants (where they do them) and renewals increasing.
 
500 for a decent service is bugger all really, less than a costa coffe a day, less than sky or netflix, most driven days. 50p a day roughly. id pay it. wont pay basc to agree to it
I'd be happy to pay it too, if it was £500 for a decent service. It isn't. It's £500 for being f**ked around for months on end and burdened with piles of stupid, invented pseudo-regulation at the end of it.
 
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