On 12th January 2017, the Home Office issued a consultation on ‘Firearms Licensing Fees’. This consultation seeks views on the implementation of new fees for firearms licences issued by the Home Office and Scottish Government. It is the first of three consultations on the implementation of firearms measures introduced by the Policing and Crime Bill. The deadline for submitting a response is 5.30pm on 9 March 2017. Full details of the consultation, fees proposals and impact assessment can be found by following: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/firearms-licensing-fees.
As a very brief summary, the proposals within the paperwork include an increase from £84 to £1050 for clubs applying for a grant, £900 for clubs renewing and up to £690 for clubs processing administrative changes with the Home Office or Scottish Government. There is also a proposed fee of £470 (raising from £0) for Olympic Shooters.
STS has prepared a response objecting to these proposals on 4 main areas:
- Adverse Impact on Public Safety
- Threat to the Sport
- Use of Inaccurate Data
- Improper Workload Assessment
We have worked with BASC, SACS and the NRA in preparing our response to ensure there is a common theme in the responses from the shooting community.
We have also developed template responses that our individual and club members can use when creating their own responses to this consultation - these can be found below for members to see and use:
Online and email responses can be submitted at the Home Office Consultation page found here.