Firearms license

[TeeDee]

I know someone who did years in jail for very serious assault while a member of a famous motorcycle club whos just got his license through.

The police were fully aware of his crime and spoke to him about it.

Its a myth once you commint a crime you cant get a license it seems!

I am gobsmacked.

I guess the theory they are working to is that they would prefer that if people did have an offence from years back they wouldn't create / support a black market for firearms.

[the-gnole]

I know someone who did years in jail for very serious assault while a member of a famous motorcycle club whos just got his license through.

The police were fully aware of his crime and spoke to him about it.

Its a myth once you commint a crime you cant get a license it seems!

I am gobsmacked.

It depends on the crime and in which way it was committed, I doubt he would have got a licence/permit had he been down for five years or committed murder or robbery.

[tfish]

it was about as violent as it gets without murder. crazy, but he is "reformed"

[Triple_sod]

I know someone who did years in jail for very serious assault while a member of a famous motorcycle club whos just got his license through.

The police were fully aware of his crime and spoke to him about it.

Its a myth once you commint a crime you cant get a license it seems!

I am gobsmacked.

Ah thats wierd;

What is a prohibited person?
A person who has been sentenced to imprisonment, detention or corrective training for a term of three years or more, is permanently prohibited from having any firearms or ammunition in their possession. This means for life and includes all firearms, even air weapons.

http://www.met.police.uk/firearms_licensing/faqs.html

Although the police do have a great deal of discression on the issue.

I knew a lad who’d never committed a crime in his life, but he had been treated for depression by his GP. So instead of filling in the form and risk being officially rejected he phoned the local firearms liaison officer to check it out. He basically told him to give it 18 months being seeing his GP and applying.

[tfish]

he got a job as a kind of social worker after release from prison so thats no doubt gone in his favour but I am still suprised.

It did take weeks to hear bac from them though, he totally thought he wasnt getting it!

[JohnRio]

"For a .243 or .270: To cull deer on the country estate I own."

There's no way that one would work - the police know all their area landowners and go golfing or to the masons with them - and for that kind of gun, you need to be well known locally with excellent refs (and preferably roots going back 3 generations locally)!

Err, I wasn't being sarcastic with that, nor suggesting that anyone lie about such a thing to the cops.
Not at all.

The point was - if you did own land with deer, or had written permission to hunt on such, that would be a legit, specific reason for a .243 or .270 rifle variation on a FAC in the UK, and nothing more vague will do. That's how tight the regulations are!

In some parts of the UK they are trying/hoping to introduce licensing for everyday type Air rifles, could be interesting to see how it unfolds, after all making it illegal to have one without a license will prove interesting to police.

You mean in Scotland right? I heard rumblings about that too. Let's hope it never happens.

While there are 1.4million shotgun holders in the UK and 300,000 or so FAC holders, there are estimated to be between 4 to 6million people who own an air rifle. Given that it's hard to cause serious harm, and very to incredibly difficult to kill a human with one (easier for a murderer to hit 'em with a hammer) there's no real reason for such a licence, and the massive numbers involved would make it basically unenforcable.

One surefire result of such a change in the law would be the numbers of vermin (rats, rabbits, pigeons) would sky rocket, spreading diseases, doing huge crop damage and increasing the price of both sanitation and food.

[Triple_sod]

Yeah I’ve seen articles about restrictions up there and as you say any such law would be next to unenforceable. However they chose to enforce it one thing is for sure it’d coast an absolute fortune, millions of pounds.....

To be honest though part of me would quite like to see them try.

Especially since most people stick to airguns to avoid the rigmarole of getting a firearms/shotgun certificate. If that were taken away I think a fair few new applications would be going in......

[maxilaura]

JohnRio, you are quite correct - it is easier to top someone off with a hammer than a gun. I'm from South Africa where illegal guns and the like run riot, however it was a hit over the head with a 5 pound hammer that killed my uncle, not a gun

[Ian]

I don't know why it would take millions of pounds to enforce the licensing of air-guns. All that will happen is that anyone caught with an unlicensed gun will be prosecuted to the limit of the law for the first few cases.

Hundreds of thousands of guns will be handed in an amnesty and tens of thousands will be hidden under the roof insulation, but they will all be out of circulation, which is the political aim.

A few air-guns will reappear over time and the users prosecuted and vilified and slowly the public will learn that guns are dirty things and must not be talked about or even referred to together with the other nonPC things I had better not mention here for the same reason.

[Triple_sod]

I don't know why it would take millions of pounds to enforce the licensing of air-guns. All that will happen is that anyone caught with an unlicensed gun will be prosecuted to the limit of the law for the first few cases.

Hundreds of thousands of guns will be handed in an amnesty and tens of thousands will be hidden under the roof insulation, but they will all be out of circulation, which is the political aim.

A few air-guns will reappear over time and the users prosecuted and vilified and slowly the public will learn that guns are dirty things and must not be talked about or even referred to together with the other nonPC things I had better not mention here for the same reason.

Well after the firearms amendment act, handgun owner were compensated not just for their guns but also any items they owned specifically related to the sport. That alone ran into the millions and we’re only talking about 70,000 people....

Then you have the actual logistics of collecting and getting rid of millions of guns.

Of course some people won’t want to give up theirs, some will ‘hide them in the attic’ but most will apply for a firearms certificate and if only 10% did so you’re still talking in the region of hundreds of thousands of new applicants.

Then you have the actual enforcement of the ban, true most people will toe the line but taking people to court is a very expensive business...so is locking them up, about £100-£200k a year, each..