Firearms licensing: an underperforming service

Seeking the grant or renewal of a shotgun or firearm certificate from your local police is something of a postcode lottery, for amongst police licensing departments there are the good, the bad and the downright appalling. Even across the East of England, the variation in performance is stark.

We have in Great Britain what is generally reckoned to be a robust system of firearms licensing which by and large keeps guns in the hands of responsible individuals and out of those of people who are unsuitable by way of criminality or for other reasons. With a few very rare exceptions, the police do a first class job in keeping the public safe from gun crime.

But the management and administration of the licensing system, and indeed the levels of risk that are acceptable within the decision making process, are down to the individual preferences, in England & Wales, of 43 chief constables, all with differing priorities and budgetary constraints. Countrywide, therefore, we see widely varying levels of service. Despite the fact that shooters are now paying 115% more in fees than they were two years ago, only about half of police forces provide certificate holders with a reasonably timely and efficient licensing system while a fifth of them are frankly underperforming.

The joint firearms licensing service operated by Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire constabularies was recently the subject of a damning inspection report in which HM Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher commented: “In our inspection we found significant backlogs, with some cases outstanding for up to two years. There was limited supervision, not enough training for officers and staff and no standard operating procedure for seizing and revoking firearms licences across the collaboration.”

He added that the three forces needed immediately to prioritise firearms licensing and renewals and put in place procedures which were sufficiently resourced and supported by suitable skills.

But the Beds, Herts and Cambs service is only one of a number which are providing the shooting public with an underperforming service, and many feel that now is the time to remove firearms licensing from the police altogether and to transfer it to a single national agency, as with vehicle licensing and passports. In a police service whose principal job is to fight crime, issuing of licences will always be something of a Cinderella operation. It was probably right to place the task in the hands of the police back in 1921 when firearms licensing was introduced. It was then a local operation run by local officers had a good knowledge of the folks who inhabited their own patch.

Today the picture is very different indeed. The Police national database enables any suitably authorised officer to make the necessary background checks in an instant, while all other firearms licensing data is digitised and available at the tap of a computer keyboard. Clearly home security still needs to be checked, but not necessarily by enquiry officers employed by the police and operating to 43 different standards.

Speaking recently at a House of Commons reception, Mark Garnier MP, Chairman of the British Shooting Sports Council, commented that the proposed reorganisation of national policing might provide the ideal opportunity for the move to a single standalone agency.

But he also sounded a warning about the expected Government consultation on the alignment of controls on shotguns with those on Section 1 firearms. “Potentially, this carries with it the threat of 30% of shotgun users throwing in the towel and giving up shooting altogether,” commented Mark Garnier.

And given the state of police licensing backlogs under the present licensing regime, it is clear even to the police that additional regulations upon shotguns could only lengthen delays and make the backlogs worse.

Percentage of applications for shotgun, firearm and RFD certificates and renewals completed within 16 weeks, 3rd quarter 2025. Data from the National Police Chiefs Council

Lincolnshire 91.16%

Essex 82.01%

Nottinghamshire 81.73%

Middlesex (Met Police) 55.83%

Norfolk 43.33%

Hertfordshire 27.85%

Bedfordshire 24.82%

Cambridgeshire 24.24%

Suffolk 23.25%

Author: Graham Downing, 2026