Can I leave a shotgun at my holiday home?

All being well, we’ll be able to go further afield this summer and for those of you lucky to have another property, you could well be wondering if it’s legal to leave a shotgun at a holiday home so that you can do a bit of roughshooting when you’re down or a spot of pest control.

But what’s the law on this? Do you have to keep your gun cabinet at your main residence or can you keep it where you usually go shooting? A reader wrote in to Shooting Times with just this query so we put it to Bill Harriman of BASC.

Can you leave a shotgun at a holiday home?

Q: I have a shotgun licence, registered in London, and 
a number of shotguns kept at 
that registered address. I also 
have a holiday home, which has 
a clay ground nearby. Rather than keep transporting a gun to the holiday house I am keen to install 
a cabinet and leave a gun there. What are the rules around this? 
Am I required to register it with 
the local police force?

A: It is perfectly legal to have 
a certificate with one police 
force and store guns at an address under another. The law requires 
you to “take reasonably practicable precautions to prevent unauthorised access to the shotguns” when they are not in use. It neither tells you how you must do that — everybody’s situation 
is different — nor where you must install the security measures to do it.

The risk of a gun in an unoccupied house

That said, I would question the wisdom of keeping a gun in an unoccupied house for long periods of time, even in a purpose-built gun cabinet. Personally, I would not do it.

Though it can be a bit of a chore, 
I would take the gun with me every 
time I thought I was going to the clay 
ground. It is no great inconvenience 
to put a gun into the car. Equally, 
there are bags available that have separate compartments for a dismantled shotgun.

These are excellent because nobody knows you have a shotgun with you if travelling on public transport. It is never a good idea to be carrying a gun-shaped slip in public these days.

It is never a good idea to be carrying a gun-shaped slipcase in public these days

The police should not be making unannounced visits to check on certificate holders’ guns. This is 
neither good practice nor cost-effective. The Home Office Guide on Firearms Licensing Law, published in 2016, is clear that any visit made without an appointment should be for a specific purpose which is driven by intelligence.

According to paragraph 19.11 of the guidance, “where it is judged necessary, based on specific intelligence in light of a particular threat, or risk of harm, the police should undertake an unannounced home visit to check the security of a certificate holder’s firearms and shotguns.

“It is not expected that the police will undertake an unannounced home visit at an unsocial hour unless there is a justified and specific requirement to do so on 
the grounds of crime prevention or public safety concerns and the police judge that this action is both justified and proportionate.”