Northern Ireland firearms fee hikes face growing opposition

Pressure mounts for independent review

Countryside Alliance Ireland has joined calls for an independent review of the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Firearms and Explosives Branch (FEB), as opposition to proposed licensing fee increases continues to build ahead of a 29 May consultation deadline.

The Alliance’s stance means the two largest organisations representing firearms owners in Northern Ireland, the other being BASC, are now pushing the same demand: that the FEB be independently reviewed before any fee increases take effect. BASC’s position was reported in Shooting Times shortly after the Department of Justice’s consultation opened on 30 March.

Roger Seddon, shooting campaign manager at the Countryside Alliance, was unsparing in his assessment. “The Northern Irish Government is trying to plug a financial gap caused by inadequate policy and practice in PSNI’s firearms and explosives branch by unfairly delving into the pockets of rural people – people who rely on firearms for work, protection and community,” he told Shooting Times.

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Scale of proposed increases

The consultation proposes an average fee increase of 153% across the full schedule of licensing transactions. Among the changes, the cost of a firearm certificate would rise from £98 to £250 and a registered firearms dealer’s certificate from £300 to £764. Fees have not changed since 2016 and the Department of Justice says current income covers only around 40% of the cost of running the service, leaving a shortfall of just under £2 million for 2025-26 met from mainstream police funding. 

The Department argues that full cost recovery is necessary to safeguard the public, giving the PSNI scope to better resource its licensing teams and carry out thorough checks on the suitability of applicants.

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Questions over efficiency and costs

According to the DoJ’s own consultation document, the deficit has grown from £267,000 in 2017-18 to £1,995,000 in 2025-26, a sevenfold increase over eight years that the Alliance says has come without any corresponding improvement in service. The Alliance points to a backlog leaving many applicants waiting 18 months or more and questions why promised efficiencies from the online licensing system have not materialised. 

Countryside Alliance Ireland does not dispute that the system is running at a deficit, but questions how the FEB has calculated the proposed fee increases that would result in full cost recovery. Among the more pointed questions the Alliance is raising is why a variation under the banded system, a process the Alliance describes as now almost fully automated, is proposed to rise from £15 to £38.

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Call to action for certificate holders

To advance its case, Countryside Alliance Ireland has launched an e-lobby tool urging Northern Ireland’s 54,000 certificate holders to contact their MLAs directly. The Alliance said: “Reform must come before any increase in costs. Without reform, confidence in the system is unlikely to improve. MLAs must ensure that firearms licensing is transparent, efficient, and fair before any further costs are imposed on licence holders.”

The e-lobby can be found at countryside-alliance.org.