The gun trade faces delays and uncertainties, impacting investment planning. With government consultations on Licensing, Fees, Lead, and Moderators, the Gun Trade Association (GTA) urges swift action before the expected General Election. Progress in the Home Office shows promise, but timely decisions are essential for stability.
Any industry needs to be able to operate in a predictable environment – making plans on investments in machinery, components and stock. The gun trade has been suffering delays and uncertainty on so many fronts. I covered police licensing delays in the last issue – our main cash flow challenge – but behind that is uncertainty on several other legislative topics.
This Government has an unprecedented four consultations running that directly influence us all: licensing, fees, lead and moderators. With a general election expected this year, time is running out to get the certainty we need. The GTA has been pushing politicians and officials to deliver on those topics under scrutiny.
There may be some movement on the horizon. I understand that progress is being made deep in the Home Office. It may not be long now before we see the outputs of the work on licensing, fees and hopefully moderators.
The Government have rightly looked at the various topics in lots of detail – and have been overwhelmed by the number of people engaging in their consultations. But decisions need to be made – no more prevarication.
This Government claims that it understands and represents the rural and shooting communities. It has of course made some sensible decisions already. Off the back of the Plymouth inquest, the police tried to hide their failings behind a call for aligning shotgun licensing procedures with Section One firearms. The Government sensibly rejected that idea, instead concentrating on the delivery of statutory guidance and putting licensing teams on a more coherent footing through training and education.
The challenge for Government is complex. All the Home Office topics interlink – licensing, fees and police performance – and that is part of why it has taken so long to find a way forward. We acknowledge current fees do not cover the work required by licensing and we support a sensible uplift to cover inflation since they were last set in 2015 and to cover the additional responsibilities set by statutory guidance. However, with licensing output so weak across many parts of the country, there needs to be some linked performance guarantee.
Our existing laws and licensing requirements are already fit for purpose. What is needed is coherent, consistent and effective application of the systems by the police. The establishment of a proper course for FEOs at the College of Policing is a good first step (amazing there hasn’t been one before). There is a team in place there at Ryton now working on the syllabus and delivery. I look forward to seeing the training content to have faith that it will achieve the aim and not allow the continued occurrence of local operators.
There are effectively two layers of law in UK: primary and secondary. The primary legislation is mostly provided by Acts of Parliament (e.g. The Firearms Act 1968); Secondary Legislation is mostly made up of statutory instruments (SIs), rules and orders. The acts provide delegated powers to ministers to issue secondary legislation in specified areas as required. These tend to be technical detail of how systems must operate.
Amendment to primary legislation is complex and takes a lot of parliamentary time. So, things like setting fees for licensing is done by SI (Order) under delegated powers. Generally, SIs are subject to a degree of consultation before they are ‘made’ by the ministers. That is where we are on licensing, fees and the Regulatory Reform Order that plans to remove moderators from control. Lots of consultation, both public and private, has taken place and we believe the order has been drafted. It is now just a matter of politics and parliamentary time before they are laid before Parliament. Then the final detail will be revealed. There may be debate in committee but nothing like a bill going through to become an act.
All laws contain some detail on when they are enacted. This may be on receiving Royal Assent or at a later date as ordered by a minister. The Firearms Act 2023, providing new laws around miniature rifle ranges (Section 11(4)) and ammunition components is a good example. That has yet to be enacted and is waiting until the Home Office guidance is agreed. We will then see an order from the minister setting the date for enactment.
I’ve not mentioned the Restriction of Lead in Ammunition work. That is being led by DEFRA and the HSE. We recently heard that they, yet again, needed more time and a result is set for September. Really?
So, back to what we should expect from the Government. As I said, I do believe there is progress being made but time is of the essence. With every day that passes we hear fresh calls for a General Election. The Government will set the date and it is fairly certain we are looking towards the end of this year. It is imperative that this raft of work gets finished before we enter any period of purdah. We cannot afford to wait any longer. Most of these matters have been subject to consultation for over two years. The prospect of looking at a different party re-examining all this work after a general election is deeply concerning. We pay our politicians to make decisions and get on with delivering progress. Let’s remove uncertainty and see some action.
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