Firearms licence holders face new duty to report non-GP doctors

Firearms and shotgun certificate holders look set to face a new legal duty to tell the police whenever they consult a medical practitioner other than their own GP. The commitment came from health minister Karin Smyth during a Commons committee sitting on the Health Bill on 2 July, as MPs withdrew a separate attempt to make firearms medical markers visible to health workers across the NHS.

What did the minister commit to?

Speaking to the Public Bill Committee on the Health Bill, Karin Smyth said the Government intends to legislate for a tighter reporting duty on certificate holders. “The Government also intend to make a statutory instrument to require licence holders to inform the police if they consult a third-party medical practitioner who is not their GP,” she told MPs. She added that people applying for a licence “must now indicate whether they have seen a medical practitioner other than their GP”.

The measure would sit alongside the existing system of digital firearms markers, under which a certificate holder’s GP record is flagged so that police can be alerted to relevant changes in the person’s health.

Why was a medical marker amendment withdrawn?

The commitment came as the committee debated amendment 71, tabled in the name of Helen Maguire and moved by the Liberal Democrat MP for Winchester, Dr Danny Chambers. It would have required medical markers for firearms licence holders to be visible to all relevant health workers under the planned single patient record, and called for a report on making such markers mandatory.

Dr Chambers pointed to a survey by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners which, he said, found that 87% of existing certificate holders believe GPs should inform the police if they become aware of health issues that could affect a holder’s ability to own a gun safely.

What did shooting’s supporters say?

Conservative MP Gregory Stafford, who represents Farnham and Bordon, told the committee he was a supporter of the Countryside Alliance and noted that mandatory markers were backed by “organisations such as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation and the Countryside Alliance”. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation’s guidance for members is on its website.

But Mr Stafford warned that making licence status widely visible carried risks. “The security and safety of the individual who holds the firearms licence, and indeed of anybody else in the vicinity, is paramount,” he said, adding that people should generally not be able to know precisely where guns are kept because it “could be a security risk”. The amendment was withdrawn by leave.

What happens next?

The Government has not yet published the statutory instrument, and the timing of the new reporting duty will depend on when it is laid before Parliament. The Health Bill continues its passage through committee. The full exchange can be read in the Official Report of the Health Bill Public Bill Committee (eleventh sitting).