Legislation News

Do police need their own shotgun licence to take your guns?

Shotgun licence: If a police officer is required to take a firearm from you, surely they must be firearms qualified and hold a shotgun licence? Many police officers are not sure about firearms and wouldn’t know if a gun is loaded. Who is responsible? I thought we, as licence holders, are at all times responsible for a firearm.

Would you like to speak to our readers? We offer sponsored articles and advertising to put you in front of our audience. Find out more.

You can’t even tell the wife where the cabinet keys are so where do we stand?

SHOTGUN LICENCE
David Frost
The law allows any constable to seize a firearm and does not specify what qualification, if any, he needs to have.

That is a matter for the police management to sort out, but no doubt concerns over health and safety play a part.

Theoretically any policeman should be able to access details of your firearms in a short space of time but I don’t believe the national database is good enough for this to be a foolproof solution.

It saves everyone a lot of time and hassle if you have your shotgun licence or certificate with you or near to hand whenever you are out with a gun.

If the police do seize your guns the responsibility for their care and safe custody lies with them from the moment they take them from you.

You should be given a written receipt and you should take care to note the condition of the guns in case they are returned to you with any damage.