A chance to improve the licensing system

Since 2008, there have been several incidents in which certificate holders who were medically unsuitable to possess firearms have been involved in murder-suicides. This has prompted calls for greater medical involvement in firearms licensing. 

A decade ago, the Home Office convened a working group on medical involvement which agreed on two key measures. First, an applicant for a certificate should have their medical declaration verified by their GP. This would ensure safeguards against applicants making false declarations. While a rare occurrence — it is an offence to do so — this has resulted in some tragic consequences. 

Secondly, a marker should be placed on the certificate holder’s medical notes by their GP. This would ensure that any relevant health condition that developed during the life of the certificate could be reported to the police, who could then review the certificate status. These recommendations were confirmed as a proportionate and common-sense approach by successful trials in Wiltshire and Essex. 

Chaos 

The British Medical Association (BMA) withdrew its agreement after the process went live across England and Wales in 2016, and the initiative collapsed. Eight years of chaos and inconsistency have followed and the risks to public safety remain. 

As things stand, if you reside in England, Wales or Scotland, and are applying for, or renewing, your shotgun or firearm certificate, you need a practitioner registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) to confirm to the police if you have any relevant medical conditions. 

Typically, your GP will do this for you but they usually charge a fee. However, GPs are increasingly refusing to engage in the process, and others charge exorbitant fees as high as £360. Many years ago, as a temporary solution to help members in this predicament with their GP, BASC set up a panel of medical professionals to help. 

The doctors on the BASC medical panel have helped thousands of members, but it became evident that a dedicated service was needed, with training and quality controls in place. When we are asked for advice on alternatives to a GP, we now refer members to ShootCert. Many of the medical panel members are part of the ShootCert team of trained GMC-registered doctors, the standard fee is £75 +VAT, and there is a discount for BASC members. 

There are lots of issues yet to be resolved on the medical front. There is still no obligation on GPs to add markers to medical notes even if police forces have asked them to do so. It is a classic case of one public service not talking to the other. 

There is nothing in the Home Office statutory guidance about for how long a completed medical verification should be valid. Most forces have settled on six months, which is usually enough to allow for early applications, but some impose a three-month shelf life. 

Home Office guidance requires medical record checks back to birth for first grants. Doctors advise that someone with no relevant medical conditions for the previous 20 years on their records would be unlikely to have pertinent underlying problems. Medical records were digitised from about 2001, so 20 years would be proportionate. 

Because GP markers are not mandatory, police forces require medical verification at every renewal. Furthermore, there is no consistency of approach for repeated record checks, with various forces requiring checks from 10 to 30 years. If GP involvement in firearms licensing were mandatory, this unnecessary and costly repeated process could be discontinued, not to mention strengthening the argument for longer certificate life. 

We await the outcome of last year’s Home Office consultation on firearms law and licensing that covers England, Wales and Scotland. BASC submitted a detailed response covering all the above issues and many more. This is an opportunity for the Home Office and the Government to start moving towards an efficient, cost-effective, robust system of firearms licensing that protects public safety and provides excellent service to the shooting community.