Campaigners have blasted the police for waving through gun licenses without proper checks, after our investigation found that 95.5% of people who apply for a firearms certificate get one.
In the last five years, police forces in England and Wales granted a total of 589,348 shotgun and firearm licences, while refusing just 6,571 - less than 1%, our figures show. On average, police granted licences to 96% of first-time applicants, while the number of renewal applications granted was higher than 99.6%
And in that same five year period, a number of murders were committed by criminals with legally held weapons - including Jake Davison, who killed five people in Plymouth with a gun which had been handed back to him, despite a history of violent assaults.
Last month the government announced a steep rise in gun licence fees intended to recover the full cost of managing the license, which has historically been subsidised by the taxpayer.
But gun campaigners say our investigation confirms that for many police forces the vetting process is just “a tick box exercise” with almost blanket approval - meaning many more dangerous individuals could be slipping through the net.
Emma Ambler, whose twin sister Kelly Fitzgibbons and two nieces were murdered by Kelly’s partner, Robert Needham, with his legally-held handgun in March 2020, said: “These figures show that this country is currently worryingly unsafe in terms of guns.
“It’s upsetting, but sadly not surprising. They show that if you apply for a gun licence, you are pretty much guaranteed to be approved, rather than having to demonstrate you are a responsible gun owner.
“The figures show that unless there is some pretty strong evidence against you, a gun licence is a given as a right, not a privilege. The approval and monitoring process seems like a tick box exercise rather than a rigorous review.
“I’m pleased the government has increased the price of a licence application, however, there is still a lot of work to be done. If we don’t see some real changes soon we will be heading in the same direction as America.”
Peter Squires, Professor of Criminology at Brighton University, who works alongside the Gun Control Network, says: “I’m not holding my breath that the extra money will form part of a more rigorous application process.
“These figures are worrying. We need to make sure the police do a more scrupulous job of vetting people. The majority of licensed gun holders are law-abiding citizens, but there have been enough instances where an individual who patently should not have been granted a licence has been given access to a gun, and these instances have led to far too many deaths.”
Home Office guidelines say successful applicants for a gun licence - more than 95 per cent of which are held by men - must ‘prove they have a good reason for holding the weapon, be fit to be entrusted with a firearm, and that public safety can not be at risk’.
The decision to grant a licence - which remains valid for five years - is taken by each individual police force and entitles holders to keep a weapon and ammunition in their home, as long as it is stored correctly. In 2021, the guidance was updated to require police forces to consider relevant medical information about applicants.
And increases to the cost of gun license fees - from £79.50 to £194 for shotguns and from £88 to £198 for a firearm - have just been implemented after a recommendation from the Plymouth senior coroner Ian Arrow, following the mass shooting in August 2021.
In just eight minutes Jake Davison, 22, killed his mother Maxine, 51, three-year-old Sophie Martyn, her father Lee, 43, Stephen Washington, 59, and Kate Shepherd, 66, in the Keyham area of the city, before shooting himself.
The subsequent inquest found there was a “catastrophic failure” in the management of Devon and Cornwall Police’s licensing unit, which handed Davison back his shotgun five weeks before the killings.
Mr Arrow warned that budgetary limitations and staff shortages increase “the probability of risk being incorrectly assessed, which led to unsafe licences being issued" - a problem he believed "existed at a national level”.
He also warned of “a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken”, adding that the Firearms Act of 1968 “requires root and branch reform” to achieve this.
In another case, George Pattison, 39, shot and killed his wife, Emma, and seven-year-old daughter, Lettie, in February 2023, after lying about his anxiety diagnosis when renewing his shotgun licence in 2022.
Pattison said he had not been treated for, or diagnosed with, anxiety on his renewal application, when he had been prescribed “a significant amount” of propranolol by an online doctor between 2019 and 2021 to assist with symptoms of the condition. After killing his family in the grounds of Epsom College, where Emma was head teacher, he shot himself dead.
Prof Squires also says Gun Control Network statistics show more than 30 women and girls have been killed by legally-held guns since 2010.
“There have been multiple murder-suicides carried out with legally-held firearms, and we also know that there are many instances where guns are being used in situations where a partner is being coercively controlled,” he said.
“The gun may never be fired, but we have lots of anecdotal evidence where abusive men will take their gun out of the cabinet and start polishing it in front of their partner, or take it apart and put it back together again – they are being used as a way of controlling and manipulating many women.”
An example is Robert Needham, who shot and killed his partner Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and daughters Ava and Lexi Needham, four and two, at their home in March 2020. He had been granted a gun licence even after police discovered he had lied about previous convictions and depression treatment on his application.
Before this, in August 2019, Gareth Wyn Jones, held his partner Rhianon Bragg hostage at gunpoint overnight at her home in Rhosgadfan, near Caernarfon, North Wales, after their five-year coercive relationship ended. Police had arrested him three times, and his legally held guns were taken away, after Ms Bragg reported him for harassment, but no further action was taken and his firearms were returned.
Rhianon worked with Gwent Police to create Project Titanium, which seeks to identify domestic abusers who apply to own firearms by asking the partners of licence applicants to complete a questionnaire. Five police forces have adopted Project Titanium – Gwent, London Metropolitan Police, and the tri-force area of Bedfordshire Police, Cambridge Constabulary and Hertfordshire Constabulary. Gwent Police have refused or revoked 16 applications since May 2023 as a result of Project Titanium.
Rhiannon told us: “Gun licensing should be of interest to the whole population. Every time domestic abuse is found by a Firearms Enquiry Officer and a gun, or guns, not allowed, it doesn’t just increase safety for that household but for the wider community too.
“We need to make sure the police are properly funded to carry out adequate checks on gun licence applicants.”
Prof Squires believes the application process should be far more rigorous He says: “Applying for a gun licence should be more similar to applying to build an extension on your home – there should be a public declaration of your intention with the ability for anyone who might be affected to make an objection.
“There are other simple steps that could be taken to keep people safer too – the government could take steps to prohibit ammunition from being kept in people’s homes alongside weapons. At the moment, both legitimate shooters and public safety are getting a bad deal.”
Bill Harriman, director of firearms at the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) agrees that the system needs to improve. He said: “The UK has some of the strictest gun laws in the world but inefficient licensing puts guns in the hands of the wrong people.
“The police service is failing. It’s not just failing to deliver to certificate holders, it’s failing to deliver to the wider public because any inefficiency will mean that public safety is at risk.” Of the rise in licence fees, he adds:” People will be paying more for a service that continues to be inefficient.”
A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson says improvements have been made to safeguard the public, including new Home Office guidance to ensure “those who possess firearms are not a danger to public safety or to the peace.”
The spokesperson adds: “Firearms licensing teams will refuse those upon grant application who do not meet that test and will revoke existing licence holders should their circumstances change significantly to mean they do not meet the test.”
The Home Office has also implemented accredited national firearms licensing training, developed with the College of Policing, which will continue to be rolled out to police forces throughout 2025.
“Alongside this, we have refreshed guidance for policing through the Authorised Professional Practice to ensure consistency and stringency in all forces’ approach to the firearms licensing process,” they said.
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "Public safety is paramount and we are delivering on the Government’s manifesto commitment to increase firearms licensing fees.”
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