The government’s anti-shotgun ownership consultation response

After a year and a half, the Government has published its response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation. Far from heeding the responses from the vast majority of respondents, the Government took the side of the cohort of respondents which formed 0.07% of total responses and called for increasing restrictions. Beyond that, the Government called for the consultation to be reopened in order to pursue even more concerning proposals which would spell huge cost and obstruction to law-abiding shotgun ownership. The headline items from the Government’s response are:  

• To consider closer "alignment" of shotgun and firearm “controls” (i.e. treating all shotguns more like Section 1 firearms);  
• To consider “the risks associated with shotguns being kept in certificate holders’ own homes”; 
• To legislate to require shotgun licence applicants to supply two referees rather than one; 
• To legislate to give police power of entry to firearms licence holders’ homes without warrant and without immediate threat to life.  

It should be noted that this consultation was conducted largely because of reports made in the wake of the tragic 2021 Plymouth shooting, which was brought about in part by catastrophic negligence by Devon and Cornwall Police. 

There have been voices calling for closer alignment of shotgun and firearm legislation for years, it is clear that now those voices are giving direction to the Government, with those who seek increasingly strict, bureaucratic and expensive firearms legislation to be brought in to limit gun ownership as much as possible, orchestrating the response. In 2023, the issue of alignment was rightly dismissed as “unnecessary” for the consultation by then minister Chris Philp MP, who said that “shotguns are already subject to significant controls, and they are important in helping farmers control vermin on their land, as well as being used in a variety of rural pursuits.” The new Government, however, takes the view that shotguns are “no less lethal” than Section 1 firearms. Perhaps the current minister should take a look at the Deer Act 1991 and consider why it is an offence to use a shotgun to kill a deer – the clue is that they’re less lethal. (Barring the landowners’ defence.)  

The fallout from increased alignment, beyond the doubling of required referees, would be enormous in terms of cost and practicality for farmers, gamekeepers, recreational gun owners, and the gun trade, as well as creating a mammoth increase in workload for police firearms licensing units. Instead of the simple case of informing the police in the instance of the sale / transfer of a shotgun, the process may then be that of a firearms variation, for which one must apply, with a cost of £47 and with justification for doing so. If a single firearms licensing department (one of 43 in Britain) processes roughly 500 firearms variations and 6,000 shotgun transfers per annum under current systems and 6,500 if greater alignment occurs, then the cost to shotgun holders would be £12 million, assuming no private sales, and the police admin burden would increase thirteen-fold. Then consider the storage requirements and possession limits for ammunition that could be brought in, many would find it totally impractical and expensive to install safes of sufficient size and nature to store even just a few slabs of shotgun cartridges in the same way as rifle ammunition. In such a world many shotgun owners would simply say “no more”. This is an outcome that must be avoided. 

The government is to consider “the risks associated with shotguns being kept in certificate holders’ own homes”, this is perhaps of even more concern. That a farmer or gamekeeper wouldn’t be able to keep their guns in their home would at the very least cause great inconvenience, or worse, cause animal welfare issues for farmers and create massive problems for gamekeepers in carrying out their day to day work. This is yet another indication that the Government is conducting a process of self-ostracism from the countryside. 

The giving of power of entry without warrant or immediate threat to life to the police poses less of an existential threat to shooting, but certainly does represent an unnecessary and disproportionate erosion of civil liberties. It is not inconceivable for police to take this greater power with a heavy hand and begin a regime of overzealous firearms seizure, given that the safeguard  of magistrate issued warrants would no longer be necessary. The doubling of required referees for shotgun licence applicants is not hugely burdensome and is one alignment of shotgun and firearm legislation which is pragmatic and sensible. These two items will be brought into legislation by the Government. 

The Countryside Alliance and its fellow member organisations of the British Shooting Sports Council are already preparing for the upcoming consultation, which will be open to public respondents too. It is important that as many people as possible who recognise the importance of shotgun ownership under the safe and proportionate legislation that is currently in place, fill in the consultation when it opens. The Countryside Alliance will keep you informed every step of the way. The Government’s response to the 2023 consultation can be read in full hereabout this blogabout this blog.