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<p>The safety of the public is our first priority and alongside this, the Government has been taking steps to strengthen firearms licensing. The Statutory Guidance, which sets out clearly the stringent checks that the police need to undertake when assessing the suitability of firearms licence applicants, was refreshed on 14 February following a review after its first year in operation.</p><p>Those who are licensed to possess firearms must not pose a danger to themselves or others and the Statutory Guidance sets out the additional checks the police must carry out in relation to domestic abuse where there is information that this is relevant. Depending on the individual case, these checks should include interviews with partners, relatives or friends or others living at the address, as well as interviews with previous partners and checks with the force domestic abuse unit and Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs. When assessing the suitability of a person to have a firearms licence, domestic violence is considered to be a most serious factor, and if there is evidence of domestic violence being perpetrated by the applicant, it will usually mean that the application is refused unless there are exceptional circumstances in that particular case.</p><p>Following the conclusion on Monday 20 February of the inquest into the tragic shootings which occurred in Keyham in August 2021, and the issuing of a report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct into the shootings and the report following a recent inquiry by the Scottish Affairs Committee into firearms licensing, we are giving urgent but careful consideration to recommendations made to the Home Office about firearms licensing.</p> |