Consultation outcome

Statutory guidance to police on firearms licensing

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

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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.

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.


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
to

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

Draft firearms statutory guidance

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Impact assessment: medical guidance

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Updates to this page

Published 23 July 2019
Last updated 20 October 2021 + show all updates
  1. Consultation outcome published.

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

  3. First published.

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