Source · Select Committees · Scottish Affairs Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Accepted in Part
We have heard suggestions that the referee system could be made more robust, if certain...
Conclusion
We have heard suggestions that the referee system could be made more robust, if certain people close to applicants could provide information about their suitability to own firearms. For example, in Canada, firearms licence applicants must provide details of their conjugal partners, over a period of two years, and they are required to countersign the application forms. If this does not happen, the Chief Firearms Officer will tell applicants’ conjugal partners about the application.94 In the UK, statutory guidance only suggests that “a request from a partner or family member that the applicant should not hold a certificate should be taken into account”.95 However, this may not be an appropriate solution to the issue. As with canvassing for references, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Spiers, Strategic Firearms Commander for Police Scotland, stated that “[y]ou could have matters of coercion around domestic violence”96 if the UK were to introduce this step into the licensing process.97
Government Response Summary
The government is seeking views on interviewing partners and household members with a record of violence and will look again at making the advice on domestic abuse clearer and emphasise the need to interview partners, relatives, and possibly former partners, if there are allegations of domestic abuse against the certificate holder/applicant, with the intention of publishing a further version of the Statutory Guidance by the end of 2023.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
You will see that we are seeking views in the accompanying consultation paper on the recommendations made in respect of interviewing partners and household members of those certificate holders or applicants with a record of violence or subject to allegations of violence. The Government will also look again at making the advice on domestic abuse clearer and emphasise the need to interview partners, relatives, and possibly former partners, if there are allegations of domestic abuse against the certificate holder/applicant. The intention is to publish a further version of the Statutory Guidance by the end of 2023.