How Is It Possible That Someone Like This Can Get A Gun Licence?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-58197414
he's 22, a self evaluated NWCGL and he can legally hold a license for a pump action shotgun! Something is wrong somewhere.

[Gromit]

I assume there is a process for getting your gun licence and your firearms back if it has been revoked.

He had to attend a anger management course.
If that is part of some criteria for getting his guns back, and he was deemed to have successfully passed the course, then no person is to blame, but the system needs to be looked at and changed.

I don’t think currently a person’s social media history is taken into consideration. Not sure how you would do it, but perhaps it should.

[tomus42]

If anyone has their gun license removed because they're considered unsafe to have one, then the removal should be permanent.

OK, you like clay pigeon shooting. Tough, go find another hobby.

[Gromit]

It is curious, and telling, that no local gun club or field sports group have come forward to comment.
Either means he didn’t shoot clay pigeons and wasn't a member of any such groups, or they are keeping their gobs shut out of damage limitation.

[tomus42]

If he wasn't in a club there's no reason he should have been given a license in the first place. More questions for the police down there to answer.

[jno]

do you have to be in a club? Can't you just say you need it for shooting grouse on your manor or something?

You do need a couple of referees

[tomus42]

I'm assuming he had to be in a club, because he lived in suburbia. He wasn't a farmer and I don't think he owned a grouse moor.

I can't think of any other reason why one would be granted a shotgun license otherwise. This is not America thank god.

[naomi24]

You don’t need to belong to a club and you don’t have to be a farmer. Anyone who meets the required criteria, ie police and medical checks can obtain a licence.

[andy-hughes]

// You don’t need to belong to a club and you don’t have to be a farmer. Anyone who meets the required criteria, ie police and medical checks can obtain a licence. //

The maybe its time the criteria was adjusted.

I always quote Ben Elton where guns are concerned - If you ask someone if they would like to have a gun, and they say yes, they should automatically be banned from ever having one.

Yes its a humorous line, but like all good humour, there is a bite of sober truth underlining it.

In my view, anyone who actually needs a gun, a farmer for instance to protect livestock, must be seriously and properly vetted, and monitored closely about their use of a gun.

Anyone who shoots for sport, targets, clays etc. has their weapon kept at their club and they are forbidden from taking it off club premises.

And that's it - anything else is illegal, and subject to prosecution and prison.

That sounds reasonable to me, although some may argue.

[tomus42]

I agree. If you're not a member of some kind of sporting gun club, and you don't need a firearm for professional reasons, then there's no reason whatsoever to own one.

These should be the first two
record criteria to be checked, before they move on to whether you have a criminal record or a history of mental illness.

[jno]

///Police decide whether to grant an individual a firearm after judging whether the applicant is fit to own one. This follows a number of checks, which typically include interviews, visits to the person’s property, criminal records checks and references from friends.

They should be able to demonstrate that “they require their firearm on a regular, legitimate basis for work, sport or leisure (including collections or research)”, although police are able to exercise discretion on a case-by-case basis of what merits a “good reason” to own a firearm.

In renewing a certificate, individuals are required by law to disclose their mental health history. Applicants’ GPs may be contacted during the vetting process, and GPs are informed once a certificate has been granted. While people are not required to disclose a related mental health condition during the period their certificate remains valid, doctors have a duty to “disclose information where they believe the patient may present a risk of death or serious harm to themselves or others”.///

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/aug/13/what-are-rules-firearms-licences-uk

[tomus42]

It looks like it's down to the discretion of an individyal local Bobby then and whether he thinks you're OK to own a gun after a home visit and criminal record check.

I.e inadequate.

[sanmac]

Many, many, many moons ago when I was 16 I walked into the local hardware store in a small town in Ontario and told the guy behind the counter that I'd like to buy a rifle. I walked out of there with a semi-automatic Stevens .22 and two boxes of ammunition. That sounds crazy now, but back then it was quite normal for kids in small rural towns to own a .22.

[sanmac]

I forgot to add that no questions were asked; no forms to fill out; and nothing to sign...Just cash on the counter please:)

[AZardoz]

I taught target shooting at a summer camp in Ontario back then. Was a bit older than you.
Perhaps people were more sensible then. I don't remember any mass shootings.

[andy-hughes]

I maintain Mr Elton was right in in his observation - apart from sport or professional necessity, why on earth would anyone sane want to own a gun?

[dannyk13]

In my force we had a firearms officer who was responsible for licensing and any applicant was thoroughly investigated before getting a licence.

[sanmac]

Dannyk, a friend of mine decided that he wanted to take his grandfather's single-shot .22 out of "mothballs" and use it for target practice at his cottage up north. He had to take a safety-course; get a back-ground check; get finger-printed; and buy a special container to transport and store the rifle. All of this was done through the RCMP. Anyway, it cost him close to $1,000 to plink away at a few tine-cans on hie property.

[dannyk13]

Sanmac , I take it that was in Canada?

[sanmac]

Yes, it was. Now compare his experience of obtaining a rifle with mine described at 2357 on Monday.

[dannyk13]

Sanmac, looks like they have tightened up the gun laws.