West Mercia revises stance on high-capacity shotguns

The policy that prompted the challenge

Readers in the West Mercia Police area can once again expect their applications for high-capacity shotguns to be assessed on their individual merits, after BASC and the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation challenged a policy that fell short of statutory guidance on firearms licensing.

The dispute centred on shotguns capable of holding more than two cartridges, which are classed as Section 1 firearms. West Mercia Police’s licensing team had adopted a default position against routinely authorising them for vermin or avian pest control, on the basis that an ordinary shotgun could do the same job and high capacity alternatives posed a heightened risk to public safety if they fell into the wrong hands. Letters to licence holders were explicit that this was not a decision aimed at individuals but one applied across the board.

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The practical case for high-capacity shotguns

For those working the land, however, there is a vast practical difference between a two-shot and a five-shot. Gamekeeper Geoff Garrod explained: “Squirrel draying, for instance: when someone’s poking a dray and three squirrels come out, you’d be very lucky if you killed all three with three shots. But you might kill a couple and with those extra two shots you might kill that third one. If you had to load an auto, an over-and-under or a side-by-side, by the time you’ve got the cartridges out, cartridges in, shut the gun and made it ready, the third squirrel’s disappeared into a hole in a tree not to be seen again that day.”

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How the challenge was mounted

Many of those who received a letter approached BASC, the NGO and even the Home Office for support. Alan Barrell, firearms licensing liaison officer for the NGO, said the force had acted from an honest belief. “It was an honest belief and a fair judgement,” he said, “but it was wrong in law.” Statutory guidance on firearms licensing requires every application to be assessed on its own merits. A default position applied across the board fails that test.

The two organisations took the matter to the College of Policing’s National Firearms and Explosives Licensing Working Group. BASC’s Rory O’Loughlin made the legal case; Mr Barrell made the practical one. West Mercia Police engaged without delay. The force consulted its legal team, spoke to other forces and revised its position.

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West Mercia’s response

West Mercia Police’s Chief Inspector Andy Wortley told Sporting Gun: “We concluded that aspects of our approach in relation to high-capacity Section 1 shotguns were not necessarily in the spirit of the statutory guidance and we have therefore revised our position with the benefit of that legal advice. If the individual can demonstrate a genuine good reason for requiring a particular firearm, it’s highly, highly likely it will be granted.”

Mr Barrell said the outcome reflected what the shooting organisations and police can achieve when they engage directly and in good faith. “Some forces could have dug their heels in,” said Mr Barrell. “West Mercia didn’t. They took advice, they listened and they acted. No one needed to make an appeal. That’s to be applauded.”