Firearms licensing: statutory guidance for police
How police chiefs should carry out checks when assessing someone's suitability to own firearms or become a registered firearms dealer.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
This is the revised version of the statutory guidance which first came into effect on 1 November 2021 and was revised on 14 February 2023. This version supersedes all previous guidance.
Updates to this page
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The statutory guidance amendments include changes relating to referees, evidence of domestic abuse or other violence, evidence of dishonesty, the balance of probabilities test, police powers to refuse or revoke certificates, out of court disposals, and surrender or seizure of firearms. The amendments are in line with changes to the Firearms Rules 1998.
Update history
2026-07-23 12:09
Accessible version, section 3, ‘statutory tests for firearms and shotgun certificates’. Added the revocation details for shotguns, which were previously missing. The PDF version is unchanged.
2025-08-05 09:30
The statutory guidance amendments include changes relating to referees, evidence of domestic abuse or other violence, evidence of dishonesty, the balance of probabilities test, police powers to refuse or revoke certificates, out of court disposals, and surrender or seizure of firearms. The amendments are in line with changes to the Firearms Rules 1998.
2023-02-14 10:00
Updated the statutory guidance with the revised February 2023 version which supersedes the guidance issued in November 2021. The revised guidance includes new sections on social media checks and referees, medical checks and temporary permits for firearms licensing.