New shotgun licensing guidance is good: Legislation would be better. And the gun lobby is already pushing back.
by Gun Control Network on 11-08-2025
Proposals for tightening up the shotgun licensing process recently announced by Home Office Policing Minister, Diana Johnson MP, are welcome but amount only to guidance for the police. What is needed is a much tougher process that is enshrined in the law.
It is currently much easier to license an armoury of shotguns under Section 2 of the 1968 Firearms Act than it is to license one rifle under Section 1 of that Act. This is because rifles and high-powered air weapons have traditionally been regarded as more dangerous. The evidence, however, does not support that view as all recent multiple shooting tragedies have involved legally-held shotguns.
In 2015, the Law Commission defined lethal guns as having a muzzle energy of one joule or more and shotguns are, by that definition, clearly lethal. Indeed, many families know only too well just how lethal. Families from Horden, Woodmancote, Keyham (Plymouth), Epsom and the Isle of Skye have all suffered the horrific consequences of the inadequate licensing of shotguns.
For many years, GCN has been advocating that all lethal weapons – including shotguns – should be licensed under Sec 1 of the Firearms Act of 1968. Such a measure has been recommended by the HMIC report in 2015, the Scottish Affairs Select Committee and a number of coroners in their Prevention of Future Deaths reports, most notably after the Keyham shootings. The Government has said it will issue a consultation about this matter but there is no sign of that so far.
The move to Sec 1 would involve each gun being licensed carefully and separately, and would involve a change from the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ test to ‘the balance of probabilities’ test when assessing risk.
Licensing under Sec 1 is very different from under Sec 2 and that explains why the shooting lobby is resisting such a measure so strongly. Nevertheless, it’s clearly what is needed now.
Gill Marshall-Andrews, Chair of Gun Control Network, says:
“Guidance is good, but legislation is better. We welcome the Government’s first measure to improve gun safety but it’s not enough. If the public is to be properly protected, we need to enshrine good practice in law and not rely on guidance which may or may not be adhered to.”