News
Lead Consultation
Without doubt, the UK Reach consultation on the restrictions of lead ammunition poses one of the greatest changes to shooting, of all disciplines in the UK for generations. In effect, it is proposed to ban the sale and use of lead ammunition…
UK Parliament Call for Evidence – firearms licensing Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament, Scottish Affairs Committee has published a request for evidence in respect of firearms licensing. The following link refers…
Firearms and Mental Health – Awareness and Support leaflet
The Firearms and Mental Health – Awareness and Support leaflet was published at the end of July 2022. The publication was included in the last newsletter and…
Humane Dispatch
At a recent meeting of the Scottish Firearms and Explosives Licensing Practitioners meeting, the matter of conditions in respect of humane dispatch was raised. Whilst the general Police Scotland condition on Firearms Certificates of any lawful quarry was accepted as complying with the vast majority of circumstances it was questioned whether the condition was applicable on a road or roadside.
Value of Shooting survey
You will likely have received an email with a link to the Value of Shooting survey by now. The survey is designed to gather data in respect of how much financial value shooting, of all types, contributes to the UK economy and how it supports fragile rural communities…
Mental Health Leaflet
A leaflet providing information on mental health support for firearms license holders has been released by the Scottish Firearms Licensing Practitioners Group. The group is composed of organisations…
Firearms Safety Consultation
The Firearms Safety consultation paper was published by the Home Office on 24 November 2020. It invited comments on a range of firearms safety issues which were raised with the Government during the passage through Parliament of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019…
Northern Ireland “Critical Incident”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has declared a “critical incident” due to protracted backlogs of applications within its firearms licensing department. A critical incident is defined as “Any incident where the effectiveness of the police response is likely to have a significant …
Raise the Game: Four Years on and Still Going Strong
RAISE the Game was launched in summer 2018 in response to concern for the health and wellbeing of those in the gamekeeping community. The partnership across the fieldsports sector brings together key organisations to work with the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust…
Rooks and the GL02
The SACS office has recently received a number of enquiries about the shooting of rooks in Scotland, particularly in relation to “branchers”, immature birds which are still hanging around the nest but haven’t properly learnt to fly. These birds would traditionally have been controlled for a number of reasons…
HSE AND UK REACH PUBLISH PROPOSED LEAD AMMO RESTRICTIONS
The UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has today published the long-awaited UK REACH (UK chemicals agency) report on their recommended restrictions for lead ammunition types in the UK. Essentially UK REACH’s proposed restrictions would result in widespread bans on lead ammunition shot and bullets used in…
Useful Links
The following links lead to the principal documents or legislation which impact upon firearms licensing. Should you have any queries about the information in the websites, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call the SACS office…
A New Website!
Welcome to the new SACS website! This site reflects many changes we’re making at SACS at the moment, and we hope that in the coming months it will grow to better reflect your needs as members. We’ve moved many of our best blog articles over to the News section of this site, but we’re also working to produce new material on important issues like General Licences, Firearms Law and policy issues which impact on your day-to-day…
Northern Ireland Update
IMPORTANT - Update on temporary closure of the PSNI online firearms application system. Further to our initial announcement on the planned downtime, BASC and our partner organisations have been advised that the downtime has now been pushed back several weeks. The online site will now close at the later date of 28th March until 10th April 2022. We have also been advised that the website closure will not extend beyond 2 weeks…
Northern Ireland Firearms Licensing Suspended
SACS and partner organisations were informed during a recent meeting with PSNI Firearms and Explosives Branch (FEB) that the PSNI’s online firearms application system will be offline for two weeks to allow for essential work. The shutdown is to facilitate the installation of a new internal Firearms Management System, which is due to go live on 7 March, but for this to happen seamlessly, it will be necessary for FEB to perform a full shutdown of their current system…
Updates on the Licensing Application Process
During November and December 2022, the Home Office published two updates to the Guide on Firearms Licensing Law. One was the long awaited statutory guidance, and the second was an update in respect of the remaining non statutory guidance…
Home Office Firearms Guidance
The Home Office published on 13 December 2021 a fully revised version of the non-statutory firearms guidance Firearms licensing law - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which includes all of the legislative changes that have been made since April 2016. This guidance should be read alongside the…
Bisley at Braidwood
The anticipation and excitement when you first pull in to Bisley is a feeling like no other. Like the first day of school when you don’t know anyone. We gather around in the café and get put in to your groups and head off out with Eric. Having never used a shotgun, I was honestly clueless. We headed out to the first 25 shot practice where we all stood back not wanting to go first…
Firearms: Statutory Guidance
During 2013 and 2014 there was significant discussion within those involved in the management of the licensing of firearms in the UK to have guidance codified, that is legislated, in an effort to achieve a consistency of approach in firearms licensing decision making…