Fac Help

[Born Hunter 17,645]

When you ask the firearms dept about new permission they will only tell you if the land is passed for the caliber you have

Because

If you only have a 22LR and they say it's passed for a 243 they don't want you thinking it's passed for 243 I might as well get a 243

Also they don't give info on land to non fac holders in case they are trying to cause a problem for someone

My force is staffordshire

 

Well I am an FAC holder, I made that very clear but was still told they would not tell me over the phone what the land was passed for because of data protection laws. Which I knew as well as they did was bullshit.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Born Hunter

[charlie caller 3,654]

So applying those those rules then would suggest that everyone will be granted an open certificate in the near future when I had a closed certificate, I was told, if you are invited to shoot on some land, a quick call to the firearms dept is all that is required to establish the status of the ground in question, assuming it is passed for your calibre, you can crack on! Only last year a pal and myself were granted permission on some new ground, we both hold open certificates, but just out of interest, my mate phoned up to enquire what the ground was passed for, he was told in about ten seconds, so this is obviously a case of individual forces applying their own rules and being obstructive for no good reason, it is simply downright bloody mindedness, and BASC should be contacted to sort this situation out.

[abarrett 462]

I think it all boils down to the person on the other end of the phone

Some can't be bothered to help some can't help because they don't know how

Or they don't understand what it is your asking for and don't want to risk getting it wrong

[zlinuk 4]

Simps I can tell you from personal experience that Gloucestershire are a total nightmare when it come to firearms licensing. My last fac application took 12 months to process (this was in 2007) I had applied for 22cf for foxes, 22 rim + mod and air rifle for vermin and a high capacity shotgun. After 12 months of nothing but bullshit from them my ticket eventually arrived with the air rifle only.

 

I rang them and had a full on barny with the guy in the office (he's a civvy), he eventually conceded the shotgun and the rimfire + mod but refused the 22cf stating "There are no foxes on that land" as the reason for refusal. I asked him to write to me confirming his reason for refusal so that I could appeal, he never did. He also said that they could find no record of me ever having an fac before, when in fact I had held a certificate continuously from 1990 - 2005 and a shotgun ticket continuously since 1988. I was not a BASC member at the time otherwise I would have had them on the case in short order.

 

Hopefully your experience will be better.

[Simps 0]

Oh my God. Really? That is utterly disgusting. My SGC was easy but due to current serving family members and my own security clearance in the past due to CP work etc. My mate applied for his SGC in Glos and it took 9 months longer than mine! I don't see what the problem is with this force in fairness but I will ring my FEO tomorrow afternoon and see if I can't get further info. Talk about putting you off altogether!

[zlinuk 4]

The strange thing is that the the chap that does the home visits is a really decent fella and no problem at all, it seems that once the application gets to the back office it all goes pear shaped.

[charlie caller 3,654]

Simps, the last five words of your last post says it all, "talk about putting you off" you have hit the nail on the head, DO NOT STAND FOR IT, join BASC, write to the CC, what a shower.

[Simps 0]

I am joining the CPSA as I do a lot of clay shooting and am just getting into registered comps and will have their insurance so joining BASC will just duplicate what I have at extra cost (unless the CPSA don't offer advice on matters like these).

[charlie caller 3,654]

Well my advice for what its worth would be BASC everytime, but yours the money, mine the advice