How to apply for a Shotgun Certificate, Firearms Certificate, RFD or Air Weapon Certificate

Every shotgun applicant now needs two referees rather than one, and licensing fees rose again on 4 June 2026. This guide sets out how to apply for a Shotgun Certificate, a Firearms Certificate, registration as a Firearms Dealer and a Scottish Air Weapon Certificate, and what each one costs.

Which certificate do you need?

Rifles, muzzle-loading pistols and the relevant component parts of section 1 firearms all sit under section 1 of the Firearms Act 1968 and require a Firearms Certificate. Shotguns falling within the section 2 definition require a Shotgun Certificate. Anything on the section 5 prohibited list – most handguns and machine guns, for example – needs authority from the Home Office or, in Scotland, Scottish ministers, and is outside the scope of an ordinary application. Sound moderators are no longer separately licensed, but an FAC is needed to possess one intended solely for a section 1 firearm.

Airguns are treated differently in each jurisdiction. In England and Wales an air rifle producing no more than 12 ft/lb and an air pistol producing no more than 6 ft/lb need no certificate at all. Above those thresholds the rifle is a section 1 firearm; the pistol is a prohibited weapon. In Scotland every airgun above one joule requires an Air Weapon Certificate. In Northern Ireland airguns and CO2 guns above one joule must be held on a Firearms Certificate issued by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

If you intend to buy, sell, repair, test or prove guns by way of trade or business, you need to be registered as a Firearms Dealer rather than, or as well as, holding a personal certificate.

Where to apply and on which form

Applications go to the chief officer of police for the area in which you live, not to the Force covering the land you shoot over. The prescribed forms are Form 201 for the grant or renewal of a Firearms and/or Shotgun Certificate, Form 201V to vary an existing Firearms Certificate, and Form 116 to register as a Firearms Dealer. New versions of these forms took effect on 5 August 2025 under the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2025. There was a transitional window: applications made on the old form – with a single shotgun referee – were still accepted if received by the chief officer on or before 5 September 2025. Any application submitted now must use the current form and, for shotguns, name two referees.

Most Forces publish the current forms on their own firearms licensing pages, and a growing number now take the whole application through an online portal. Photographs must meet the specification set out on the form itself.

Two referees, not one

The single biggest change for shotgun applicants took effect on 5 August 2025. Rule 2(2) of the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2025 increased the number of referees required in support of a Shotgun Certificate application from one to two, bringing shotguns into line with Firearms Certificates. Home Office Circular 005/2025 confirms the position and the new form carries an Annex A guide written for referees.

A referee must be of good character and must have known you personally for at least two years, and the statutory guidance expects that to be the most recent two years with a reasonable degree of contact. You cannot use a relative, a Registered Firearms Dealer, a serving police officer, a police employee, a police and crime commissioner or a member of a commissioner’s staff.

The same 2025 rules added two further questions to Form 201. Applicants are now asked about neuro-developmental conditions as a potentially relevant medical matter, and about time spent abroad.

The medical report

Since the statutory guidance took effect in November 2021, medical information from a GMC-registered doctor forms part of every application. A medical proforma is attached to the application form, and it is for you to get it to your GP rather than for the Force to chase it. Practices are entitled to charge for completing it and many do. Build that cost, and the delay while a busy surgery turns it round, into your timings. Some doctors decline to take part in firearms licensing medicals, and others charge significant fees for doing so. Third-party providers such as ShootCert offer an alternative where a GP is unwilling or unavailable.

The proforma covers conditions the Home Office regards as relevant to suitability, including depression and anxiety, psychotic illness, personality disorder, neurological conditions and alcohol or drug misuse. A flag may then be placed on your medical record so that clinicians know you hold a certificate. Doctors provide facts rather than opinions; the decision on the certificate rests with the police.

What the police have to be satisfied of

The statutory tests differ between the two certificates, which is why the questions on the form differ too.

For a Firearms Certificate, section 27 of the 1968 Act requires the chief officer to be satisfied that you are fit to be entrusted with a section 1 firearm, that you are not prohibited from possessing one, that you have good reason for having each firearm and its ammunition, and that in all the circumstances you can possess it without danger to public safety or to the peace. Good reason is assessed gun by gun, and rifle applicants should expect questions about the land they intend to shoot over.

For a Shotgun Certificate, section 28 works the other way round. The certificate must be granted if the chief officer is satisfied you can possess a shotgun without danger to public safety or the peace, unless you are prohibited or unless the officer is satisfied you have no good reason to possess one. Section 28(1B) makes clear that sporting or competition use, or shooting vermin, counts as good reason – and that an application cannot be refused merely because you intend neither to use the gun yourself nor to lend it. Possession of a shotgun as an heirloom is acceptable.

Security and gun cabinet requirements

Certificates are granted subject to statutory conditions requiring reasonably practicable precautions to be taken to prevent unauthorised access – so far as possible – to the guns and ammunition. When the guns are in use, being cleaned, repaired and so on, reasonable precautions must be taken for their safe custody. It is a criminal offence to be in breach of the condition on a certificate. The Home Office firearms security handbook is the reference point Forces use, and your firearms enquiry officer will want to see your cabinet installed and properly fixed before the application is decided rather than afterwards. Fitting it late is one of the commonest causes of avoidable delay.

Higher-powered rifles carry a specific requirement. Since the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2023, rifles above a stated muzzle energy threshold must be stored using at least one of the level 3 security measures in the security handbook, or equivalent.

Airgun owners in England and Wales are not exempt from all of this. Rules that came into force on 31 July 2023 require airguns to be stored so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, access by anyone under 18.

Firearms licensing fees from 4 June 2026

Fees rose by roughly 3% under the Firearms (Variation of Fees) Order 2026, an inflation-linked increase set out in Home Office Circular 001/2026. These are the rates now in force in England, Wales and Scotland.

The coterminous arrangement is worth understanding if you hold both certificates. Where you renew a Firearms Certificate and grant a Shotgun Certificate at the same time, you pay £135 plus £73. Where you renew both together, you pay £135 plus £25.

Renewals and timing

The National Police Chiefs’ Council advises that most Forces accept renewals up to four months before expiry. Forces may return an application sent too far ahead and ask for the current fee. Work backwards from your expiry date, allow time for the GP and for both referees, and apply within your Force’s stated window.

There is a statutory safety net, and it rewards applying early. Under section 28B of the 1968 Act, inserted by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, a certificate for which a renewal application was made at least eight weeks before expiry stays in force automatically until the Force decides the application, or until eight weeks after the original expiry date, whichever comes first. If it still has not been decided by then, Forces should issue a temporary permit under section 7 covering continued possession of the guns and ammunition on the expired certificate, though not the purchase of anything new. Miss the eight-week window and you lose the automatic extension. Section 28B does not apply in Northern Ireland.

How to register as a Firearms Dealer

Registration is a separate process under sections 33 to 35 of the 1968 Act and is made on Form 116 to the chief officer for the area containing your place of business. Every place of business must be notified and each is entered in the register individually. A certificate of registration lasts three years; it lapses automatically, and a fresh application is needed to continue trading. Grant and renewal both cost £480.

Two discretionary grounds for refusal matter most in practice. Under section 34(2) the chief officer may refuse if satisfied you cannot carry on business without danger to public safety or the peace. Under section 34(1A) the officer may refuse unless satisfied that you will engage in business as a Firearms Dealer to a substantial extent, or as an essential part of another trade, business or profession. The statutory guidance is helpful here: substantial does not necessarily mean volume, but does mean a serious and genuine intention to trade. A small specialist turnover is not a bar. Using dealer status to build a private collection, or to service friends rather than the trade or the public, is.

Registered Firearms Dealers must keep a register of transactions under section 40, and can be removed from the register under section 38 if they stop trading, lose their place of business or can no longer trade without danger to public safety.

Air Weapon Certificates in Scotland

Scotland licenses airguns under the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015, administered by Police Scotland. Apply on Form AWL1. The certificate lasts five years and licenses the person, not the gun, so one certificate covers as many airguns as you own.

The grant fee is £72 for applicants aged 18 or over. Renewal is £48 and a variation is £20. If you already hold a Firearm or Shotgun Certificate, you can apply for an Air Weapon Certificate aligned to expire alongside it for £5. Reduced grant fees apply to younger applicants: £50 at 14, £37.50 at 15, £25 at 16 and £12.50 at 17, with parental or guardian consent required for anyone under 18. Visitors can apply for a permit at £20 for an individual.

As in the rest of Great Britain, an Air Weapon Certificate stays valid past its expiry date if a valid renewal application went in before that date and Police Scotland has not yet decided it.

Rather than referees, the Scottish application requires a single verifier who lives in the UK, has known you for at least two years and is of good standing. Relatives, Registered Firearms Dealers, serving police officers, police employees and members of the Scottish Police Authority are excluded.

Firearms Certificates in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland runs a single Firearms Certificate system under the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004, covering shotguns and airguns above one joule alongside conventional firearms. Applications go to the PSNI Firearms and Explosives Branch and require two referees who have known you for at least two years. The grant fee has stood at £98 since 2016.

Where to get help with your application

You do not have to work through this alone. BASC offers a specialist firearms team for its members, and the service is broader than most members realise. It covers confidential advice on firearms and related matters including knives, explosives and countryside law, technical and ballistic advice on sporting firearms, and – the part that matters most at application stage – assistance with completing Firearms and Shotgun Certificate application forms.

If something goes wrong, a BASC specialist will, with your agreement, liaise with your licensing department directly, working to resolve matters by mediation first. Members get a named case officer who handles the case throughout. Where BASC does not consider a case has reasonable prospects, it says so in writing rather than letting a member pursue an appeal that is expensive, slow and uncertain. On the medical side, it works with ShootCert to provide verification at a discounted rate for members.

The other bodies offer licensing support too. The NGO provides a dedicated firearms adviser and 30 minutes of free legal advice, and is open to all shooters rather than gamekeepers alone. SACS covers the whole UK and lists firearms licensing support among its core member services. Countryside Alliance membership is built around campaigning and liability insurance rather than a licensing helpdesk.

Annual membership rates below were correct at the time of writing.

BASC also runs a £70 airgun-only membership, and joint or family rates are available from all four. The practical lesson is to make contact before you post the form, not after a refusal lands. A form that is right first time, with two referees who understand what they are signing and a medical proforma already with the GP, is the single biggest thing within your control.

If your application is refused

Refusal is not the end of the matter. Section 44 of the 1968 Act provides a statutory right of appeal against a refusal to grant or renew a certificate to the Crown Court, and against a refusal to register a Firearms Dealer or to enter a place of business in the register. Crown Court appeals are expensive, uncertain and take a long time. Even if successful the judge may decline to make an order for the costs to be paid for by the police. If unsuccessful, costs will almost invariably be awarded to the police and these may run into thousands of pounds.

With thanks to Bill Harriman, BASC’s director of firearms, for checking this article for factual accuracy.