'GP changes and more background checks' - Home Office TODAY issues new guidance
The Home Office are now telling police they should assess someone's online activity - after an inquest heard Jake Davison was 'obsessed with guns'
Last updated 14th Feb 2023
The Home Office has today published new guidance, which updates the 2021 rules brought in after the Plymouth shootings.
Police are now required to look at the social media history of those applying for a gun - and can use special powers to help them investigate online history.
There's also changes to the way GPs record whether someone is applying for a weapon - or currently has one at home.
The ongoing inquest into the five people killed in Keyham in August 2021, has heard a number of 'red flags' were missed when Jake Davison first applied for a shotgun.
From today those acting as a reference for a weapons’ licence must know the person for the previous two years - not two years at 'some point' in their lives, which had been the case.
The inquest has previously heard Davison's former head of year acted as the only reference - although expected others to be added – after first going to see Davison and his mum many years after he'd left the school.
From today an automatic marker is now placed on a patients' record when they apply for a gun licence - something that was due to happen when Davison applied for a shotgun in 2017 but wasn't recorded as the GP wanted records at the time to be up-to-date and accurate.
The inquest today heard the British Medical Association - which had previously voiced concerns about the requests for medical information - requested a 'marker' at the application stage and a second updated 'marker' at the weapons-granted stage so any changes are not missed during the application process.
Before 2013, GPs were told about the weapons licence after the application was granted - something Mr Hunt today admitted was 'peculiar'.
He says since 2021, after the Keyham shootings, the applicant must now provide medical information as part of the application process.
The jury heard that in the years before 2021 some forces refused to allow an application without the medical information, often secured by the applicant paying the GP for it - but Devon & Cornwall would approve applications at the time.
After the Keyham shootings the then Home Secretary wrote to all forces asking for an update on their gun licensing decisions. She was told 6,400 weapons had been reviewed in the past year and of those roughly 900 were returned and eight - including Davison's - were returned 'unsafely' and needed an immediate public safety response and the weapon seized.
The jury were today told two thirds of those applying for a gun are men aged over 50, and the Home Office's Nicholas Hunt - the most senior civil servant who currently oversees firearms licensing - was asked if it was 'normal' for a teenager to apply for a gun.
Mr Hunt replied: "'Police should look at the facts of each case."
The jury were today told in the UK it remains a 'privilege not a right to have a firearm'.
It currently costs ÂŁ88 for a firearms category 1 licence first-time application, and ÂŁ74.50 for a shotgun - falling to ÂŁ69.50 or ÂŁ49 at renewals.
The charges were reviewed in 2014 and are expected to be increased later this year - after a review with a number of forces to look at the current costs of firearms licensing.
After the Dunblane shootings, when Thomas Hamilton shot dead 16 pupils and a teacher before injuring 15 others, a report called for changes.
The 1996 Cullen report which resulted in two acts of Parliament said: "Enquiry officers should be given as much training and guidance for their work as is practicable"
Mr Hunt was today asked "why 20 years after clear guidance of what was needed to protect lives, which the government accepted, had not resulted in the training being given?"
He explained that a working group had been formed and guidance updated over the years, but accepted there was no national scheme - with forces instead using training courses designed by an individual force.
The jury heard a coroner in 2019 in Surrey issued a 'preventing future deaths' document to voice concerns about training.
Mr Hunt was asked: "There is no mandatory requirement for Firearms Enquiry Officers to have training in guidance and decision making - it has been left to whatever force thinks is appropriate and this was known in 2019."
He was asked why the Home Office did not provide funding for national training, and explained the training was down to forces as Home Office oversees framework.
When asked 'if just words' were given by the Government when it 'accepted' the Cullen (post Dunblane) report, Mr Hunt said there had been repeatedly updated guidance and acts of Parliament.
It was suggested to Mr Hunt, there was 'no sensible reason' for a 'divergent approach' between shotguns and firearms - as at the moment a firearm requires two references but a shotgun requires one.
It was a recommendation by the Scottish Affairs Committee which called for a number of changes after the shooting on the Isle of Skye - where one person was killed and three injured.
The jury were told the families of the Keyham victims wanted the two types of licences to be changed to one - as it's 'simpler, achieves consistency and enables controls to be placed on shotguns which target risk'.
Mr Hunt said the 1960s act would need to be changed to allow shotguns and class 1 firearms to be 'classified' in the same manner.
The jury were reminded that Devon & Cornwall Police thought Davison's shotgun would be stored at his uncle's home - not at his house in Keyham - but didn't feel they had powers to state where the weapon should be stored.
Mr Hunt said police did need to believe the weapon would be stored safely when granted.
He was asked if ending the current 'difference' in firearms and shotgun licences 'culture' would 'focus the mind' and Mr Hunt agreed.
When asked if there should be a national decision-making risk matrix, as it promotes consistency, he explained the 2021 guidance is now a 'slim document' with clear criteria set out - and police are not now told to create or follow a 'risk matrix' but instead follow the statutory guidance and advised professional practice.
The new guidance notes that a shotgun licence might not be 'revoked' if the reason to have the weapon no longer exists - while a reason is still required to have a firearm. Mr Hunt said the 'reason' is still accounted for in the latest shotgun guidance.
During questioning, Mr Hunt was asked if the updated guidance is a 'bit wishy-washy' with phrases like 'in most cases' to describe the requirement of a senior person making the final decision.
He was asked if a 'balance of probability' test should be replaced by an 'automatic ban' if the person applying for a weapons licence is a member of a terrorist, organised crime or other prescribed group.
Mr Hunt said he felt the updated guidance was 'meaningful' and clear.
He was asked if there was a 'case for a dedicated hotline' for people to raise concerns about a licence holder, which the Home Office say they are looking into, after it was raised by the review in Scotland - but information can already be provided anonymously.
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