Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for firearms licence certificates have been refused in the last five years; and what the primary reasons for those refusals were.

The Home Office publishes annual figures on the number of firearm and shotgun licence certificate renewals and refusals in England and Wales in the ‘Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales’ National Statistics publication. The latest data cover the year ending 31 March 2023 and are available here: Statistics on firearm and shotgun certificates, England and Wales: April 2022 to March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Data on the number of applications for the renewal of firearm and shotgun certificates that were granted, and the number of applications refused in the last five years are published in tables 1 and 3 of the accompanying data tables.

Reasons for refusing applications for a firearm certificate are not collected centrally. Under the Firearms Act 1968, police forces will refuse such applications where they are not satisfied that the applicant is fit to be entrusted with a firearm, has a good reason to possess a firearm, or that they can be permitted to possess a firearm without danger to the public safety or to the peace.