Laura Saunsbury, LNL‘s in-house firearms licensing law specialist, has some urgent advice for firearm dealers and individual certificate holders; if your certificates are due for renewal in the coming months you should submit your renewal application before 5 February 2025 if you possibly can. There has been much talk for a number of years about an increase in firearms licensing fees to enable the Police to fully recover the costs of administering firearms licensing. We all we knew this would be coming at some point, but the Home Office has very recently announced a substantial increase in fees at short notice.

As can be seen from the table below, all firearms licensing fees will more than double with effect from 5 February 2025. So if you are intending to make a first application for a certificate, or your certificate is due for renewal at any time in the next six months, you will save yourself a significant amount and pay the current lower fees if you can manage to submit a complete application, including the medical pro forma signed by your doctor, before 5 February 2025. For further advice on firearms licensing matters contact Laura Saunsbury or Gary Smith in our firm’s firearms law department.