Shocking whats happened in Plymouth
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14 August 2021, 11:20 AM
#9
Not as hard as you think; A lot of it is either online or by phone now, in person interviews and inspections are now rare. And partly thanks to GDPR causing administrative red tape, GPs charge the police fees to do record checks. To avoid these fees Police now ask the applicant to provide the medical records instead! What is provided to the police is just a print out that can easily be changed or have pages omitted.
Last edited by ALi-B; 14 August 2021 at 02:16 PM.
14 August 2021, 10:52 PM
#12
To be fair, back in the day you'd get a visit by a firearms officer (usually retired), to have weapons inspected along with the cabinet and also a 'chat' (informal interview
). It wasn't a grilling but a good chin wag and the officer knew more about my weapons than I did (I had some antique muskets).These days cuts have taken their toll, departments have merged and older staff have left without replacement. I know when I renewed they were swamped with a backlog. Online hasn't helped, nor has GPs; I know when I tried the reception staff were clueless you can't tell me I'm the only person in the practice to have a license?
BBC have been rather disgusting over this: First they had Jeramy Vine dedication his talk slot before victims families had been informed which is insensitive. And today BBC news had a talking head 'expert' that clearly had no idea of how firearms or shot gun licenses are handled. You fill in the form and send it off; They do not ask you to provide them with your facebook/twitter/insta details and if you didn't have social media....how would they know? My social media has 'gone dark' does that mean I'm dodgy? No! And if my GP has no record of any mental health issue...what then? Most men do not talk to their GP about mental health. Also, a dropped assault charge is not a conviction nor a reason for continued withholding of a license. And living in a town or city is not a reason to not have a license; This 'expert' seemed to think you need to live in the sticks and hand over social media accounts when applying, clearly he's never touched a water pistol let alone a firearm.
Not saying the process needs reviewing: My Aunt's partner recently had to put his dad into care after losing his mind (Dementia)....he had a pile of shotguns. None licensed. Of course dealt with them legally now, but we have no idea how he got hold of them! But it shows a license is just a piece of paper and record of legal keepers; It's not really a guarantee of keeping weapons away from those with ulterior motives. Don't forget you can easily buy ammunition; that's the dangerous bit...a gun is just a tube to aim it with a pin to explode the charge, something that can be fabricated with basic machining skills.
14 August 2021, 11:08 PM
#13
Muskets by the way don't need a license.
And we've all seen those vids of DIY potato guns made from pvc pipe and fueled with propane/butane...of course the projectile need not be potatoes; Smash with some nails or glass mixed in would make it lethal or life changing. I've even seen caulk gun tubes adapted that could be lethal!
Not going to say anymore as it's in bad taste, but what I'm saying licensing even if it were improved is not fool proof.
And we've all seen those vids of DIY potato guns made from pvc pipe and fueled with propane/butane...of course the projectile need not be potatoes; Smash with some nails or glass mixed in would make it lethal or life changing. I've even seen caulk gun tubes adapted that could be lethal!
Not going to say anymore as it's in bad taste, but what I'm saying licensing even if it were improved is not fool proof.
15 August 2021, 01:02 PM
#15
It was like that until about ten years ago. Then renewals became tick box questionnaires on if any changes (be it yourself, weapons or location), and a brief telephone interview with some random civilian officer with scripted questions.
Now moved house and no inspection, no interview!
The house move was stressful as I lost the keys to the cabinet and with no time left ended up ripping it off the wall with a 5ft pry bar on moving day; And of course couldn't remount the cabinet until I got it open. If I had a inspection that wound have required some awkward explaining. Found the keys though, I had them all along; I forgot that I intentionally mislabelled them incase they got into the wrong hands. 🤦♂️
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