L1A1 straight pull, FAC renewal for the Brits.

[daryldiane]

Hi Guys,
Just going through the FAC renewal process. Had a visit from my MET firearms officer yesterday. My firearms team is now very efficient, no waiting till the last minute, I put in my renewal for the begining of March last week.
The officer was very helpfull as usual and was quite happy with the L1A1, just wanted me to confirm that it was straight pull only.
There is however another problem in that the good reason to possess is now to be enforced as having shot every rifle on your Cert at least three times a year. This is a problem for such as I who have quite a lot of guns. The officer agreed that weapons over 100years old need only be used occasionally, also that rare and difficult to find parts for guns, such as the Enforcer should be also occasional use only, though this is at the discretion of the individual firearms officer.
Just thought I'd let people know since it may be a problem. So shoot all your 'modern' guns at least three times in the year before renewal, and have this recorded.

Information

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[Peter Laidler]

Mmmmmmm. I'm looking hard at the firearms act and the guidance for Police and can't seem to find this little caveat anywhere Daryl. Might your oh-so-helpful constable can direct me/us to the part that clarifies this. IT appears to me that once this drip-drip-drip of enforcement becomes the norm, then another drip-drip-drip of tacit enforcement becomes the norm also and so on and on and on.

Maybe it's just me, but sometimes I think that it's not the lawfully held firearms that need legislating for more tightly but the UN-lawfully held ones. Like I said, maybe it's just me..........................

[daryldiane]

Quite agree with you Peter, but the MET has asked its firearms officers to look for this. Difficult to argue as an individual, perhaps the NRA should take issue and clarify the situation.
Am at Bisley tomorrow and will make some enquires.

[David TS]

This has been the case for at least ten years chaps. It is covered in the "Good reason" section of the 2002 Home Office Guidance to Police handbook, under sections 13.6 and 13.46.

[bigduke6]

Nothing in the rule book regarding 3 times a year, every force has its little quirks and these can vary from force to force. One or two clubs will notify the FAC issuing force, that the member has not shot in that membership year. Rather than this esculating into everyones version I posted section 13.46, notice the "Maybe expected" and is not stated as "required"

The officer agreed that weapons over 100years old need only be used occasionally

Regarding the 100 year thing, complete b*****it, it states old and valuable.

See GUIDENCE notes below

13.46 Target shooters may be expected to
use their firearms fairly regularly, say three
or more times a year. The police should
consider on renewal whether “good reason”
continues in respect of all firearms held for
this purpose. However, failure to shoot in a
year should be regarded as grounds for
further enquiries to be made, rather than
automatic partial revocation of the certificate
for lack of “good reason”. For example, there
may be personal circumstances such as illness,
working away (where this is not to be
repeated regularly), or practice for a particular
competition that may preclude the use of all
the firearms concerned. In some cases,
competitions for unusual or older arms may
be few each year. Owners may also not want
to regularly shoot old and valuable weapons,
thus avoiding excessive wear and tear.

[David TS]

Nothing in the rule book regarding 3 times a year, every force has its little quirks and these can vary from force to force. One or two clubs will notify the FAC issuing force, that the member has not shot in that membership year. Rather than this esculating into everyones version I posted section 13.46, notice the "Maybe expected" and is not stated as "required"



Regarding the 100 year thing, complete b*****it, it states old and valuable.

See GUIDENCE notes below

13.46 Target shooters may be expected to
use their firearms fairly regularly, say three
or more times a year. The police should
consider on renewal whether “good reason”
continues in respect of all firearms held for
this purpose. However, failure to shoot in a
year should be regarded as grounds for
further enquiries to be made, rather than
automatic partial revocation of the certificate
for lack of “good reason”. For example, there
may be personal circumstances such as illness,
working away (where this is not to be
repeated regularly), or practice for a particular
competition that may preclude the use of all
the firearms concerned. In some cases,
competitions for unusual or older arms may
be few each year. Owners may also not want
to regularly shoot old and valuable weapons,
thus avoiding excessive wear and tear.

I was about to post Section 13.46, but you beat me to it.

That's clear enough isn't it?

You have to satisfy good reason, and just wanting to own a firearm without using it is not good reason.

If you did not use a rifle for a year, and you had no good excuse for not doing so, you MAY not satisfy good reason.

I'd also add that with most clubs you have to sign in at the beginning on a range day to show you shot that day, and those records ARE made available to the FLA.

[daryldiane]

Interesting, I've had a licence for 27 years and it hasn't come up before.

[David TS]

Interesting, I've had a licence for 27 years and it hasn't come up before.

It seems to vary from police authority to police authority (surprise!), and some scrutinise range attendance records much more than others.

[daryldiane]

Had a good day at Bisley today, L1A1 shot very well at 500yrds with the Lithuanian ammo and the Nimrod scope. I'd zeroed it at the zero range at the 300yrd mark and it was dead on at 500. Fours fives and the odd V, never strayed into the 3 once in 50 rounds. Very little wind mind you.

[villiers]

Just the same here in Germany. Rumours abound as to the requirements. Some authorities started to demand that each and every firearm should be used COMPETITIVELY annually (at County level!), that they should be used at least once every three months etc. etc. They soon realised that demands of this sort could not be applied to OAPs, those partly incapacitated, people working abroad etc. and after the protests started coming in ... they were quietly dropped. The latest amendments to the the laws governing weapons ownership have just been published and even the gun magazines (DWJ etc) have seemed quite satisfied.