Dear members

As you will be aware from our posts and news updates found under “News” on our website, we are much involved in all firearms issues, especially with BSSC.

Last Tuesday I attended, with our Secretary, a BSSC organised drinks evening for MPs and Peers at Westminster in order to discuss the various pending matters relating to firearms. The BSSC Chairman, Mark Garnier OBE MP introduced Dave Orford, the now retired FELWG lead, who spoke on the proposed alignment of Section 2 with section 1and other issues. The following day there was a debate in Westminster regarding making GP Medical Markers Mandatory, during which the alignment of Section 2 and 1 was also mentioned.

The Government response to the recent petition is as follows:

“The Government recognises that shotguns and firearms are used for a range of legitimate purposes, such as target shooting and hunting, and the vast majority are used safely and responsibly. We also recognise that shooting contributes to the rural economy.

The Government is, however, mindful that legally held shotguns have been used in a number of homicides and other incidents in recent years including the fatal shootings in Keyham, Plymouth, in August 2021. It is for this reason that we committed to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns, to bring them more into line with controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We announced this on 13 February 2025 when we published the Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation which had been run by the previous Government.

Recommendations relating to strengthening shotgun controls had been made to the Government by the Coroner in his preventing future deaths report issued in May 2023 and followed the inquest into the deaths of those who were shot and killed in Plymouth in August 2021. Similar recommendations on shotgun controls were also made in the report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following its investigation into the Plymouth shootings, and by the Scottish Affairs Committee in its report following a fatal shooting with a shotgun in Skye in August 2022.

We intend to publish the consultation shortly. No decisions have yet been made on whether and what changes might be necessary. We will consider carefully the views put forward during the consultation once it is completed, before deciding what further action to take. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that the Government intends to bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.

Public safety is our priority, and our focus on shotguns and other firearms sits alongside the Government’s aim to halve knife crime in the next decade, which forms a part of the Government’s Safer Street Mission. We are driving an ambitious programme of work focusing on prevention and enforcement, as well as strengthening knife legislation. This includes banning weapons that have no place on our streets, targeting irresponsible sellers, giving the police more powers to deal with those supplying and owning weapons for violent purposes, intervening earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime, and bringing together experts through the Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce and the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime.”

We suggest it is time to contact your MPs in good time prior to the Parliamentary debate which will take place on the 23rd February.

When you engage with your MP the core elements to mention are as follows:-

The direct economic value of shooting to the UK is £3.3 billion and indirect £9.3 billion

The alignment proposal is projected to cause a dramatic reduction in these figures, without real benefit to public safety, and due to the additional bureaucracy on firearms licensing, a resultant reduction in trade, and seriously affecting all aspects of shooting including; rural activity where shotguns are farmer’s tools of trade, game and target shooting, and preserving heritage through collecting. Diminishing shooting will affect conservation and land management and diminish all the indirect related activity such as hospitality. As a sport, shooting is very diverse in that it is user friendly across gender, age and ability and improves physical and mental abilities.

We already have some of the most robust firearms laws world wide which are very well regarded in many countries across the globe. It should be noted that the incidents that have occurred here over many years, including in Plymouth, were largely due to breakdowns in licensing procedure and not inadequate legislation. Crime with licensed firearms is minimal. It is crime with illegal firearms, often drug and gang related, on which police need to focus.

The police firearms licensing depts. cannot cope at present due to lack of staff and ineffective IT systems. A legislative change as proposed would increase their workload to an impossible level. Thus it would not improve public safety but may have the reverse effect. Creating a single licensing authority would be more useful and eliminate the variation and lack of consistency between regions.

Making the Medical Marker mandatory on GPs records will also be a positive step in protecting public safety.

Thank you in advance for your efforts

Derek Stimpson