Recommendation 61

Rt Hon. Chris Philp MP, Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire for the Home Office, summarised the advantages and disadvantages of shortening and lengthening the firearms licence renewal period: “If the length of time were reduced, it would catch change in circumstances faster but, equally, it would impose a higher burden on the police operationally and additional administration on the person who holds the firearms certificate. Conversely, if it was lengthened, for example to 10 years, it would reduce the bureaucratic burden on the police and the firearms holder, it would reduce cost, but it would increase the chance that there was some change in circumstance that did not get caught”.164