Police this week were granted the authority to carry out random, unannounced checks at the home of anyone who has a gun licence. Why? They claim that shooters may be ‘vulnerable to criminal or terrorist groups’ and this is the way to tackle the ‘problem’. The new Home Office guidance assures us this won’t occur ‘at an unsocial hour unless there is a justified and specific requirement to do so.’ Some get-out clause.
Crimestoppers have also launched a dedicated phone line to encourage people to report any ‘concerns’ they might have about behavioural changes in fellow shooters. Acpo’s national policing spokesman for firearms and explosives licensing added this would help ‘gather intelligence’.
Sound familiar? It should do. In this week’s cover piece, Fraser Nelson writes about the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. This, too, was passed in 2000 ‘in the name of fighting terrorism’, but is now being used by the police to access itemised phone records. And not infrequently, either. As Fraser points out: ‘last year they used Ripa to access a piece of confidential information every 73 seconds’. Can we really trust the police to behave responsibly with these powers?
More than anything, it seems odd that Acpo would deem the terror threat from shotgun licence holders to be so great. Last year, just over 400 guns were reported as missing or stolen – out of the 2 million registered firearms in the UK.
The majority of shotgun-owning Britons fully understand the importance of gun security. Lest we ever forget it, the UK maintains some of the strictest gun-control rules in the world. Checks on gun storage are carried out when a licence is renewed (every five years), and the police may already carry out unannounced checks on the basis of specific intelligence. The introduction of the Crimestoppers line is simply an invitation for abuse from those with a bone to pick with gun owners and, perhaps, blood sports in general.
Cameron came under attack earlier this year for refusing to increase the price of gun licences; perhaps this is his attempt to make amends. But after the dismissal of Owen Paterson from his Defra post in the summer – a decision which upset many country dwellers – this sounds like yet another nail in the coffin for David Cameron’s rural vote. Nigel Farage will be laughing all the way to his gun cabinet.
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