The Minister has stated that a consultation on firearms licensing-related matters will take place in due course. There is no time scale.

The non-statutory guidance has been reviewed, and the updated version will be published shortly.  The Home Office security guidance is also being refreshed.  

The Policing and Crime Act 2026, which includes the removal of sound moderators from certification, received Royal Assent on 30 April 2026.  

Our friends at Gamekeepers Welfare Trust are inviting SACS members to a fantastic evening on 15th May in Kelso.

The Northern Ireland Department of Justice is consulting on plans to raise firearms licensing fees and change the banded system.

‘Current management advice is not sufficiently precautionary. If stocks remain at their current low levels, all sectors may face closure to harvest—not as a result of regulation, but through stock collapse’

They explore the potential need for bag returns in shooting wild game species. This conversation began around the subject of two grouse species - black grouse and ptarmigan, both of which can still be shot, despite the fact that they have a recent history of decline (and in the case of ptarmigan, population data is surprisingly scanty and difficult to determine).

DEFRA have published a consultation seeking views on proposed changes to Part 1, Schedule 2 (2.1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (WCA). Schedule 2.1 sets out which wild bird species may be killed or taken outside the “close season”.

The UK government has now published The REACH (Amendment) Regulations 2026, which set out restrictions on the use of lead ammunition.

We have been made aware that a UK Government amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill was published on 17 February which will remove sound moderators from firearms licensing controls and the requirement to be on the certificate and approved by police forces.