Scotland. 2014 ‘Firearm Licences by type of weapon, 2014.’ Firearms Certificate Statistics, Scotland, March 2014. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. 7 October

Relevant contents

Table 2: Firearm Certificates - number of items possessed on firearm certificates and number of additional items authorised to be purchased or acquired on firearm certificates in Scotland as at 31 March 2014

Firearm type: Possessed - Authorised to be purchased/acquired - Total
Section 1 Shotgun[1]: 1,840 - 347 - 2,187
Rifle: 44,267 - 5,345 - 49,612
Handgun [2] [3]: 805 - 115 - 920
Carbine, Under Lever: 87 - 16 - 103
Bolt Action: 13 - 4 - 17
Muzzleloader Rifle: 195 - 50 - 245
Handgun: 482 - 98 - 580
Air weapon[4], Rifle: 352 - 96 - 448
Handgun: 107 - 1 - 108
Miscellaneous [5] [6]: 23,570 - 5,530 - 29,100
Breakdown of type of item not avalaible [7]: 20,145 - 1,075 - 21,220
Total: 91,863 - 12,677 - 104,540

Notes:

[1] Any smooth-bore gun which has a barrel of less than 24 inches in length, has a magazine which takes more than two cartridges or has a removable magazine.

[2] Includes those items which were exempt from the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, e.g. single shot humane killers, shot pistols, trophies of war, antique firearms and 'handguns' used by the SSPCA.

[3] A large part of the increase in the number of handguns compared to previous years is a result of harmonised recording practises resulting from the establishment of Police Scotland. Humane killers should be recorded as handguns but in previous returns some legacy force areas had not been recording them as such.

[4] For further information on the types of air weapons that a firearm certificate is required for please see Note 5.4.3.

[5] Includes items such as Section 5 firearms, tranquillising rifles, etc.

[6] Due to a change in recording practices relating to sound moderators last year and again this year there has been increases in the number of miscellaneous items held on firearm certificates (+7,100) and the number of miscellaneous items authorised to be purchased (+1,500). For further information please see Note 5.2.6.

[7] For technical reasons, within the legacy Tayside Police force area it is not possible to provide a breakdown of items held on firearm certificates.

Note 5.4.3

At present, a certificate is only required for air weapons that are of a type declared by the Secretary of State under the Dangerous Air Weapons Rules 1969 (as amended) to be specifically dangerous. The vast majority of air weapons held in Scotland do not require a certificate. Section 39 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 banned air weapons that use, or are designed or adapted for use with, a self-contained gas cartridge system. With effect from 20 January 2004, under section 5(3) of the 1968 Act, such weapons could not be purchased, acquired, manufactured, sold or transferred without the authority of the Secretary of State or Scottish Ministers. The offence of possession was brought into force separately under subsection 4 and came into effect on 30 April 2004. This made provision for existing owners to keep and continue to use their weapons, provided the weapons were added to a firearm certificate, new or variation. Existing owners who did not wish to apply for a certificate were able to hand their weapon into the police for disposal by 30 April 2004. This has had the result of substantially increasing the number of air weapons possessed on certificate compared to previous years.

Note 5.4.6

The previous bulletin reported that there were differences in what the eight legacy police forces had included in the miscellaneous category for the type of items possessed and authorised to be purchased or acquired on firearm certificates. This in turn affects the total number of items recorded as being held on firearm certificates. The issue related to sound moderators, which are designed to suppress noise and flash. They are not firearms in themselves but are subject to certification and as such, are included in the count of items held on firearm certificates. These should be included in the miscellaneous category but only the legacy Fife Constabulary and Strathclyde Police force areas had included them in previous returns. After further discussion with Police Scotland, it was established that the legacy Tayside Police force had also been including sound moderators in their items held on firearm certificates, but they are unable provide the breakdown of items held on firearm certificates.

Last accessed at:
https://www.gov.scot/publications/firearms-certificate-statistics-scotland-march-2014/pages/10/#n5
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