Simon West, executive director of the Gun Trade Association, examines the UK government’s proposed firearms licensing changes and their potential impact on the gun trade.
On 12 August 2021, 22-year-old Jake Davison shot and killed 5 people including his mother and a 3-year-old child. He then fatally shot himself.
As a child, Davison had attended a special needs school. Diagnosed as autistic in 2011, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) staff noted he had been playing violent computer games and “struggling to separate fact from fiction”. He had received mental health counselling. In 2016, his mother had communicated her concerns to the counselling organisation that she was worried about her son saying that he was isolated and obsessed with weapons. Also, in 2016 Davison was reported to the police for allegedly attacking a man and his pregnant girlfriend. He was continuing to have mental health issues and his mother continued to ask for help from the authorities.
Davison applied for a shotgun certificate in 2017 where he declared autism and Aspergers on the form and gave permission for the police to contact his GP. Police background checks revealed two assaults on teachers and one on a fellow student. He was given a Shotgun Certificate in 2018. During the COVID lockdown, Davison himself sought help from a mental health support charity. In December 2020, following a “ferocious, intense and unprovoked attack” in a Plymouth skatepark, he had his gun and certificate removed by police.
At this time he was reported as injecting steroids and drinking 12 energy drinks per day. His online activity was focussed on guns, violence and incel (involuntary celibate) ideologies. After Davison completed an anger management course, the police returned his gun(s) and certificate.
Following the shooting, the inquest found that Firearms Enquiry Officers at Devon and Cornwall Police had received no training for twenty years, tools such as risk matrices were not routinely used and that a “dangerously unsafe culture” had prevailed within the Firearms Licensing Office, which was described as “a dangerous shambles”.
The Coroner stated: “If any lessons had been learned in the aftermath of earlier tragedies, they have been forgotten and that learning had been lost.”
Also in the long and wide-ranging ‘Reports to Prevent Future Deaths’:
“In 2017, given the absence of medical information, the known history of assaults and the intelligence held by Devon & Cornwall Police suggesting involvement in other violent episodes, it was a serious failure to protect the public and the peace to grant a licence to the perpetrator.”
“The decision to return the shotgun and licence to the perpetrator in July 2021 was fundamentally flawed and as a result failed to protect the public and the peace.”
“There was a serious failure at a national level by the government, Home Office and National College of Policing to implement the recommendation from Lord Cullen’s Report in 1996 arising out of the fatal shootings in Dunblane, to provide training for FEOs.”
As a result of the evidence provided by the police, he also highlighted the differences in legislation between the granting of a shotgun certificate (SGC) and firearms certificate:
- A perception that a shotgun is less dangerous than a firearm with a legal wording ‘obligation’ for the Chief constable to issue a SGC unless he can prove there is no ‘good reason’.
- Only one referee is required on a SGC application (rather than 2 for FAC)
- The absence of the ability to impose conditions on a SGC.
- Unsuitability for a pump action for clay shooting
- Inappropriate OO shot cartridge for clay shooting
Following the Coroner’s report, the Government responded by introducing ‘Statutory Guidance’ which significantly tightened the requirements and processes for assessing suitability of those able to possess all firearms (medical, social media, domestic violence checks etc). The Government also introduced the College of Policing mandatory, accredited training scheme for Firearm Enquiry Officers (FEOs) which is now in place.
That previous government considered that these measures were sufficient to provide the system, skills and scrutiny to effectively tighten controls on firearms possession.
We have now heard that the current government is to re-open a consultation into the alignment of shotgun and firearms licensing later this year.
It is important that we understand what is being considered. There will be a lot of scaremongering activity, particularly from those that are ideologically opposed to gun ownership.
The whole topic of alignment was, in my opinion, a huge smokescreen deployed by the police to obscure the real reasons why Jake Davison was ever allowed to own guns. The facts of the case clearly demonstrate that all the evidence was there, under existing legislation and guidance, to show that he didn’t pass the test. The licensing department failures were the clear and unambiguous reasons for him being allowed to do what he did.
We can consider the consultation ideas when they appear but the real threat to the trade, our businesses and livelihoods would be the inadvertent loss of the shotgun certificate. Shooters and the Trade understand the administrative and sporting choice that the SGC offers. The evidence shows that across the nation the average number of shotguns per certificate held is 2.7. There is a demonstrable need (good reason) for shooters to have access to different types of guns – traditional, modern, clay, game, bore size, barrel length, fit etc. This needs to be managed in an efficient way to avoid a never-ending series of applications for variations and the bureaucracy and friction involved. There is no evidence that any attacks have involved anyone carrying more than one shotgun.
Scrutiny should be focussed on the individual – the key failing in the Plymouth case. It is our responsibility to protect the SGC. Throwing out the baby with the bathwater would be hugely inconvenient for the shooter, throw friction into the licensing system and seriously impact the Trade.
The GTA will be directly involved with the Home Office consultation. Now is the time to put your weight behind our fight to protect the industry’s interests.
You can read the full March 2025 issue below:
