One of the most difficult jobs in my time with the GTA is having to help members who face challenges with licensing. I’m writing this from my experience of dealing with real situations that we have dealt with in the Trade. I’m not here to preach – just help pass on real experience to protect you and your businesses.
We constantly deal with low-level challenges in licensing but we manage those through liaison with the licensing chain and the Home Office. I want to talk about the more difficult cases where the RFD has come under the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
Certificate holders can be revoked. For RFDs the legal term is ‘removal from the register’.
If you are faced with any indication that the Police are considering your removal from the register – please call the GTA. We can provide immediate advice and, if necessary, direct you to one of our legal advisers for more detailed support.
Being a Registered Firearms Dealer is more than just being able to trade and support yourselves financially, it goes deeper than that. It becomes part of your identity and reason to exist. The threat of losing it can be devastating. Please call us for help if you can’t see a way forward.
Off the back of a few visits that I’ve had to make in recent months, where I have seen the tragic impact of ‘issues’, I would like to draw your attention to those topics that most frequently arise and what the the police are coming to expect. There are clear obligations in law for the RFD to be able to “carry on business as a firearms dealer without danger to the public safety or to the peace”.
Record keeping
We are all aware of our responsibilities for maintaining an accurate register under Section 40 of the Act and the Firearms Rules. It sounds simple but I recognise the reality of the challenge. I have seen cases where there has been meticulous attention to record keeping, but there are still errors and omissions. Huge attention is now being given to how the Trade accounts for its guns and ammunition. You must be on top of your Register.
There is advice on register keeping in the GTA RFD Handbook but my personal ‘top tip’ is to ensure that you complete an annual stocktake (an implied legal requirement in the Act (Schedule 4)). Any issues than then be dealt with and reconciled before memories fade. Then, if you are using a paper register, and I know many still are, you draw a red line and bring all existing stock forward to a new section. You will be judged on your “systems for the management of firearms or ammunition”. You cannot hope to trace an error if you are having to go back through ancient books, decades old.
Suitability
The 2023 revised Firearms Licensing Statutory Guidance is very detailed. It provides all the criteria that the police use to assess suitability for anyone having authority to possess firearms. There are additional requirements on RFDs and their management of servants. If you haven’t read it, you must. The criteria are clear and a good hand-rail to make your own decisions in the business.
It’s a sobering list – it includes speeding convictions, domestic turmoil, associations with suspected criminals, evidence of dishonesty, threatening or anti-social behaviour, lack of self-control, alcohol and drug abuse, etc.
As police computers are ever more closely linked and the police are encouraged to delve into social media accounts, do not be surprised if you get questions relating to matters that were previously more private.
As we lead our lives as RFDs or servants, it’s worth remembering that we are subject to monitoring and can be held to account.
Health
Now for matters over which we have less control – but where there are still things where you can help manage the situation. You will almost all now have had to submit medical proformas to support renewals. This is a key strand of assessing suitability – together with the medical markers on your GP’s records, providing real time monitoring. The list of relevant conditions included in statutory guidance mostly relates to mental health but it also states: “any other mental or physical condition, or combination of conditions, which may affect the safe possession of firearms or shotguns” and we know that some forces are interested in terminal diagnoses.
There are three key aspects to the way you deal with health issues:
- First, and foremost, is that you get help if you need it. Do not shy away from asking for your doctor’s support to deal with a problem. You are more important than your access to firearms. There are other ways we can help you keep the business going.
- Second, in your application/renewal to be a RFD it states that you are expected to report any diagnosis or treatment for a relevant medical condition. Failure to report may prove to be more troublesome than no doing so. There are plenty of examples of where managed health issues do not preclude access to firearms. If you are faced with a medical challenge – do not over-react. Keep calm, seek advice from the GTA and put in a management plan.
- Stay healthy. Easily said – but we all need to look after ourselves. Mutual support, keeping fit, eating healthily and managing stress all need attention. It’s all too easy to work too hard and not find time for ourselves.
So, to summarise:
- Ensure you meet the conditions of your RFD certificate.
- Use the GTA RFD Handbook to check you are meeting current requirements of register keeping. Simply, have effective systems to account for all your guns, ammunition and relevant component parts.
- Complete annual stocktakes. A month ahead of your anniversary of renewal is a good idea.
- Consolidate your register after stocktake – do not leave guns in old registers.
- If you or your servants have health issues, get help, keep licensing staff appraised, take advice if you’re having problems.
- Look after yourself and your staff.
The cases I have been involved in show the police have not helped RFDs in the past with management issues but they are now applying greater scrutiny. Keeping up to date with professional management of the dealership is vital.
If you are finding it all a challenge, please do ask for help. Paul Green, our Technical Advisor, or I will be happy to visit and give advice. Engage early and avoid risk of ‘removal from the register’.
You can read the full September 2024 issue below:
