Firearm and Shotgun licenses
Date of request: 7 September 2023
Reference: 1067-23
Request
I would be grateful if you could provide the following for each year from 2018/19 separately:
(i) Total number of firearm licenses revoked & reasons given for these revocations
(ii) Total number of shotgun licenses revoked & reasons given for these revocations
Response
The following table shows the recorded number of firearm and shotgun licenses revoked broken down by reason for the revocation in the requested time frame.
For the purposes of our response, the term revocation has also been applied to: refusal to grant; refusal to renew certificate(s); and partial revocation. Partial revocation occurs where there is stated case law which allows the individual to retain their shotgun certificate whilst their firearms certificate is wholly, or partially revoked. A partial revocation can occur where a firearms certificate holder no longer has the good reason for a particular calibre. ‘Good reason’ may include, but is not limited to, not having land which is suitable for the calibre.
All dates are from April to March, except for 2023, which is April to the date of this report.
We have four main areas for revocation.
- Criminal conduct/investigation, which includes drink driving.
- Medical.
- Breaching the conditions of their license.
- Other report. This can be a 3rd party report which has not been flagged under any of the other headings.
Please note that this table relates to the number of certificates, not the number of persons. In some cases the individual may have possession of both a shotgun and a firearms certificate.
*Up to 22nd September 2023
| 2018/19 | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 9 | 14 |
| Medical | 7 | 8 |
| Conditions | 1 | 1 |
| Other report | 7 | 35 |
| Total | 24 | 58 |
| 2019/20 | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 26 | 8 |
| Medical | 13 | 1 |
| Conditions | 1 | 0 |
| Other report | 23 | 7 |
| Total | 72 | 16 |
| 2020/21 | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 21 | 9 |
| Medical | 17 | 4 |
| Conditions | 4 | 10 |
| Other report | 4 | 2 |
| Total | 46 | 25 |
| 2021/22 | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 26 | 7 |
| Medical | 13 | 6 |
| Conditions | 3 | 3 |
| Other report | 9 | 3 |
| Total | 51 | 19 |
| 2022/23 | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 37 | 15 |
| Medical | 4 | 1 |
| Conditions | 2 | 2 |
| Other report | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 47 | 18 |
| 2023/24 (to 22 September 2023) | ||
| Reason | Shotgun | Firearm |
| Criminal | 18 | 8 |
| Medical | 5 | 0 |
| Conditions | 1 | 0 |
| Other report | 8 | 1 |
| Total | 32 | 9 |