I would like to set up as a firearms dealer!

Shooting legal advice
DAVID BARRINGTON BARNES
If you want to deal in firearms and ammunition by way of trade or business, you must be registered as a firearms dealer, or RFD for short.

It is a criminal offence to carry on a business as a firearms dealer without being registered, so this is the first vital step.

In brief, you will have to apply (using the prescribed form and paying the prescribed fee) for registration to your chief police officer – in your case the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police – who must generally grant your application unless, for good reason, he considers that you cannot trade without danger to the public or the peace.

He will look in detail at your character, antecedents, knowledge of firearms and the security of your proposed premises.

He will also consider the issue of whether or not you are likely to be carrying on a substantial volume of business, so that he is satisfied that you are not a private collector who is building a collection on the back of your intended RFD status.

Should you be refused an RFD registration, you have a right of appeal.

Once you are an RFD, you will need to acquaint yourself – and comply scrupulously – with all the regulatory requirements, including keeping a record of all transactions.

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