HC Deb 29 November 1945 vol 416 c1512
2. Lieut.-Colonel Wheatley

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will so 'far modify the new instruction issued by him in September last, regarding the possession of firearms, so as to permit chief constables, at their discretion, to issue licences to those who held one prior to the war.

Mr. Ede

An applicant for the grant or renewal of a firearm certificate must, in accordance with the Firearms Act, satisfy the chief officer of police that he has "a good reason" for requiring a firearm. If his application is refused he can appeal to quarter sessions. The fact that an applicant possessed a firearm before the war would not in itself appear to be a good reason for the issue of a firearm certificate. Although I have no power to give instructions to chief constables in this matter I have suggested to them that they should give sympathetic consideration to cases in which the weapon in question is a family heirloom or has been in the applicant's possession for a very long period of years.