WEST MIDLANDS Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Simon Foster, has welcomed news that licence fees levied on gun owners are set to be more than doubled.
Previously, police forces across the country were said to have lost money every time a gun licence application was processed, because the fee charged doesn’t fully cover the costs to the police force of conducting background checks and issuing the licence.
But now the PCC says he is pleased the government have shaken up the price structure and has announced the fee for a new five year shotgun licence will rise from £79.50 to £194.
In the West Midlands, the annual loss on the processing of licences was around £230,000 in 2023, which represents resources that could otherwise be invested into much needed frontline policing.
For more rural forces with higher levels of gun ownership, like Staffordshire, this was likely to be even higher, with the force accounting for 60 per cent of the licences processed by the joint West Midlands and Staffordshire Firearms Licensing Unit.
There are currently 27,000 firearms licence holders across the West Midlands and Staffordshire.
Mr Foster said: “This review of firearms licence fees was long overdue. For too long, tax payers have been subsidising firearms licence holders, as the firearms license fees do not cover the costs incurred by police to issue and review licences.
“It was costing West Midlands Police, which works with Staffordshire Police to manage firearms licensing, hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to handle new applications and renewals.
“It was a lamentable failure of the last government to let this issue drift for nearly a decade, and I am glad that the new government has finally put in place a process for more frequently reviewing firearms licensing fees.
“It is essential that we have an efficient, effective and properly resourced firearms licensing function paid for by firearms licence applicants and holders, not only so the full costs on policing are met by the shooting community, but to ensure that only fit and proper people have legal access to deadly firearms.”
