Lobby your MP for fair firearms licensing

The Countryside Alliance has launched a new campaign seeking consistent and fair firearms licensing.

It comes in response to the “failing” medical procedures introduced in 2016 for shooters seeking applications and renewals, which have been criticised for being applied inconsistently across different counties – with some applicants being charged up to £200 by their GP to carry out background medical checks when no fee should be levied.

Fair firearms licensing or a postcode lottery?

Countryside Alliance head of shooting Liam Stokes said: “Lincolnshire Police declared that all applications and renewals will be held up until whatever fee the GPs wish to extract is paid. This will create a postcode lottery in which an applicant in neighbouring Nottinghamshire can expect the system to operate as laid out in Home Office Guidance, whereas an applicant in Lincolnshire is subject to a random system of unregulated charges.

“At the Countryside Alliance we say this is unfair and inconsistent, and we want everyone who agrees with us to join our campaign for reform. This new Guidance is less than two years old. The Home Office needs to either find a way to enforce it, or admit it isn’t working and get all the stakeholders back around the table to agree something that works. Please head to our website and join our campaign by signing the eLobby which will send that message straight to the Home Office minister with the power to sort this mess out.”

Petition your MP

You can send a pre-written letter, provided by the CA here, directly to your MP, asking them to either ensure Home Office guidance is enforced or issue new fair firearms licensing guidance.