Consultation outcome

Statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing

• From: Home Office
• Published: 23 July 2019
• Last updated: 20 October 2021 — See all updates

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Government response to consultation: statutory guidance for police on firearms licensing (accessible version)

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Government response to consultation: statutory guidance for police on firearms licensing

PDF, 258 KB, 11 pages

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Detail of outcome

A consultation on the draft statutory guidance for the police on firearms licensing ran between 23 July 2019 and 17 September 2019. The consultation sought views on the introduction of statutory guidance and new arrangements for medical checks of people applying for firearms certificates.

The new statutory guidance is available, along with revised application forms. The statutory guidance and revised application forms will come into effect from 1 November 2021 to allow the police time to prepare. The government response to the consultation has also been published above.

• Read the new statutory guidance
• Read the revised application forms

The tragic shootings on 12 August 2021 in Plymouth were truly shocking. Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of those who were injured, and those that died. Incidents such as these, though fortunately rare, have a profound impact on the public and demonstrate the need to continually review and update firearms licensing guidance wherever necessary. We will keep the statutory guidance under review and ensure that any learnings from the tragedy in Plymouth will be included.

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Original consultation

Summary

We are seeking views on draft statutory guidance for the police on firearms licensing, including proposed new arrangements for medical checks for firearms certificates.

This consultation ran from
9am on 15 July 2019 to 11:45pm on 17 September 2019

Consultation description

This consultation seeks public views on how best to ensure that the police carry out their firearms licensing functions in an appropriate manner, with the introduction of statutory guidance. The government will conduct a consultation with the National Police Chiefs Council and the chief constable of Police Scotland, as required by the legislation, alongside this consultation.

Documents

Statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing: government consultation (accessible version)

HTML

Statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing: government consultation

PDF, 243 KB, 15 pages

Draft firearms statutory guidance (accessible version)

HTML

Draft firearms statutory guidance

PDF, 435 KB, 36 pages

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Impact assessment: medical guidance (accessible version)

HTML

Impact assessment: medical guidance

PDF, 467 KB, 9 pages

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Published 23 July 2019
Last updated 20 October 2021 + show all updates

1. 20 October 2021

   Consultation outcome published.

2. 23 August 2021

   Accessible HTML versions of 'Statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing: government consultation', 'Draft firearms statutory guidance' and 'Impact assessment: medical guidance' added.

3. 23 July 2019

   First published.