Thieves and firearms

Gun Law and Crime in the UK

The UK has some of the strictest gun laws in the whole world. If you want to own a gun, the law makes it very difficult to do so and you will be subject to stringent controls. This of course is bad news to the thief, as possessing a gun legally is not as simple as it sounds.

Gun laws exist to try and avert terrible tragedies such as the recent Northumberland and Cumbrian shootings by Raoul Moat and Derrick Bird respectively in 2010, the 1987 Hungerford killings by Michael Ryan and the Dunblane massacre in 1996 committed by Thomas Hamilton.

However, even with stringent laws, these individuals managed to carry out their evil crimes.

During 2007, nine young people lost their lives in shootings, 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool was one of them. There were 59 firearms related murders in 2006 -2007, compared with 49 in the 2005 – 2006. That represents an 18% rise in just one year.

There were 507 serious injuries from firearms, that’s more than one incident a day. However, the trend in gun crime overall has been going down. This indicates that even with atrocities like these, the UK has one of the lowest rates of gun-related murders in the world. This is a figure that is four times lower than the USA, for example.

What are the Gun Laws in the UK?

In England and Wales, firearms and guns are subject to controls under the Firearms Act 1968, which has been amended several times in response to tragedies like Hungerford and Dunblane.

In Northern Ireland, the laws are covered by the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 and are slightly more relaxed. In Scotland, gun laws are a bit more stringent due to the Dunblane murders, and they are subject to the Scotland Act 1998. This is under review with a view to tightening up the laws further to include legislation for air rifles which have been responsible for an alarming increase in misuse in recent years.

Any person who owns a firearm must hold a relevant certificate to prove that they are a suitable person to possess a weapon. There are two types of certificate that can be issued: a Shotgun Certificate or a Firearms Certificate.

Firearms or Shotgun Certificate?

There are some differences between the two certificates and the processes which an individual needs to go through in order to be granted one of them. A Firearms Certificate is generally harder to obtain because you have to explain why you need the weapon and justify your case for owning it.

Firearms Licences are normally only issued if the person applying can show that they have a genuine sporting or work-related reason for owning a weapon.

Shotguns are treated differently because there is the stance that, in the UK, anyone is theoretically entitled to own a shotgun as they are traditionally used for hunting and pest control purposes.

Shotguns (Section 2 Firearms under the 1968 Act as amended) are defined in UK law as ‘smoothbore’ firearms with barrels not shorter than 24 inches (60 cm) and a bore not larger than 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, no revolving cylinder, and either no magazine or a non-detachable magazine that is not capable of holding more than two cartridges’. They are subject to slightly less rigorous checks and an individual can own as many shotguns as they like, as long as they can prove that they have safe storage capacity for all of them.

What are the regulations?

In order to obtain one of these documents, you need to apply to your local police station. The Police keep a register of all the firearms owners in the area. They hold details of the make, model and serial number of all weapons and they carry out checks to ensure that the person in control of the weapon is of sound character and has no previous criminal convictions, such as theft or burglary.

Anyone who has received a conviction of a sentence over three years will be disqualified for life from owning a gun or other weapon and ammunition. Anyone with a lesser conviction will be banned for 5 years.

The certificate holder must show that the weapons are kept in a secure, locked cupboard or storage area and they will need to apply every 5 years for a new certificate, giving two good character references.

They also need to produce a statement by their GP to confirm that they are fit to own a gun. A Firearms Enquiry Officer must also inspect the premises where the gun or weapon is kept. Once all these conditions can be satisfied, a licence will be granted.