Delaying tactics blamed for gun control failures

A GUN control group, set up in the wake of the Dunblane massacre in Scotland in 1966, fears its predictions over the Government using delaying tactics has come to fruition, after the announcement of a July General Election.

- CARL EVE

Last year, the Gun Control Network met with the Home Office to encourage the Government to fully implement all of the recommendations made by senior coroner Ian Arrow, following the five-week long inquest into the deaths of five people tragically killed in Keyham, Plymouth, on August 12, 2021.

In his series of Prevention of Future Deaths report, Mr Arrow urged further review of all certificates seized, refused, revoked or surrendered and subsequently returned over the last five years, not just by Devon and Cornwall Police, but by all forces. He asked for greater training by judges and others involved in firearms licencing decisions.

He also raised his concerns over Home Office firearm guidance dating back decades, and said the Firearms Act of 1968 needed "root and branch reform" He said the public "would be better protected if the legislation provided that a certificate 'shall not be granted' unless the applicant has satisfied the relevant chief officer of police that they are safe to hold a gun of any type", rather than a presumption to issue the certificate.