The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

BASC have published their report into the current state of firearms licensing departments.

https://basc.org.uk/firearms-licensing- ... -failures/

Having read it as far as my local department are concerned it's complete rubbish.

They are reporting Durham as having 14 staff with a renewal time of 88 days

From what I've been told there are only 2 staff and a manager in the office, at least one of them only works 2 days a week. There's one full time FEO and another who is retiring.

My club members are all reporting renewal times of 6 to 9 months and some even longer, my own renewal submitted at the end of 2020 took 7 months.

BASC are as anti legal gun ownership as the NRA, Chris Packham, the Police and the Home Office.

Therefore I lay no credence whatsoever on any thing they say or publish.

Obviously they asked the police rather than their members.

That certainly is a work of fiction. It has Kent down for 31 staff and 59 days for a grant - we have a chap at our club with a perfectly straight forward application for a grant for a .22lr target rifle. it's been 4-5 months so far.

Just on costs alone , we should all be asking our Police Commissioners why their forces are charging that much .
If Humberside can issue a cert for £42.00 , why is it costing my force £300.00 ?

Years back when one of the big accounting firms was allowed to do a full breakdown of costs , they found that one force was charging for use of the carpet in the police HQ .

Like I said so many times, we need one national police force, not a bunch of "county sheriffs".........

Pete

Pete wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 2:20 pm Like I said so many times, we need one national police force, not a bunch of "county sheriffs".........

Pete

Not a good idea .

Whats the best result we could expect from a national police force ?
We know the police want a fully funded by shooters certificate . But they might settle for an average plus on current charges .

And time taken to issue a cert could again be average plus .

A national police force would in my opinion allow groups like FELWEG and others to set the rules that they want .

At least now we can say to our police commissoners force xxx is doing a half decent job , why isnt your force getting even close ?

With one force and a centralised online database, the admin costs would be far lower, (they're already combining firearms admin between forces in some areas, including mine).
In addition, there would be one procedure for all to follow, not this postcode lottery nonsense that we have currently.
Surely that alone would be an improvement...

Pete

MistAgain wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:12 am Just on costs alone , we should all be asking our Police Commissioners why their forces are charging that much .
If Humberside can issue a cert for £42.00 , why is it costing my force £300.00 ?

Years back when one of the big accounting firms was allowed to do a full breakdown of costs , they found that one force was charging for use of the carpet in the police HQ .

This discrepancy of costs was well investigated way back in the 1970's by Colin Greenwood in his book on firearms control. Colin Greenwood was a very well respected Ex police superintendent and editor of "Guns Review"

Certainly an enlightening read on the subject of UK gun control and although published 50 years ago is still relevant today.

MistAgain wrote: ↑Mon Sep 05, 2022 3:02 pm
Whats the best result we could expect from a national police force ?
We know the police want a fully funded by shooters certificate . But they might settle for an average plus on current charges .

They already have full cost recovery ability on the books. It was brought in after the 'shake up' following the Cumbrian shootings. They pulled the current figures out of the air with the promise that the significant increase in funding would be used to streamline the FLDs, primarily by getting the whole process made digital. That was in 2010. It wasn't until last year that my FLD was able to take card payments. 2021 and only just able to handle anything other than a cheque FGS!!!

What actually happened, as always does with public sector bodies, is that the extra money got put into the central pot and once the dust had settled following the shootings, the money was 'redirected' to other more pressing needs. Considering we have full-cost recovery on the books its frankly shocking that the fees haven't been getting bumped up every year, but it probably just tells you everything you need to know about how the Chief Constables/PCCs prioritise/think about their FLDs

I read some of these accounts with surprise........I've never had a problem with my FLD. My last renewal online worked fine.
I applied when asked (max of 16 weeks before expiry), the GP emailed the medcert straight to the office (for 20 squid), and the FAC dropped through the letterbox a week or two before expiry.

Pete