11724 Firearms Licence Holders
I write in connection with your request for information dated 7th February 2020 and received by this office on that date. Below are the questions raised in your request and the information we have been able to retrieve for the period 01/04/2019 – 01/02/2020.
1) How many firearm licence holders in force area currently?
- a) 1215
2) How many shotgun certificate holders in force area currently,
- a) 2890
3) How many applications for a firearm or shotgun have been rejected?
- a) 1
4) Scotland only for this question. How many air rifle licences been issued since introduction of legislation? How many applications been refused?
- a) N/A
5) What is your force policy if a license holder dies and spouse and such having no authority to be in possession? Last thing they are thinking. Does your licence team have guidelines if so publish please
- a) Upon notification of the death of a Certificate holder the weapon/s are lodged with a Registered Firearms Dealer or transferred to another certificate holder who has the appropriate authorities, permissions and storage facilities in place.
Below is a link to the Home Office Guide on Firearms Licensing Law April 2016 (hereafter referred to as the HO Guide).
When a firearms licence holder dies, ‘Police Records’ paragraph 11.56 of the HO Guide states:
“In the event of a certificate holder’s death, a Permit in order to dispose of the certificated arms will be issued to the Executor or their nominated agent.”
Here is the link to the HO Guide:
Please note any statistical data supplied in relation to Freedom of Information requests is a snapshot of data held at the time the request was received by the Freedom of Information office and is subject to constant change/updates.
The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.
If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The APP College of Policing guidance states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced.