Getting what we pay for

With firearms licensing costs now borne in full by applicants, we should expect better from a service that, despite formal recommendations, remains woefully inconsistent.

- By David Frost

WHEN I WAS given a 12-bore as a 21st-birthday present life was simple. I drove my 1936 Morris 8 to the West London Shooting School, parked it between a Mark 10 Jaguar and a Bentley, and had a round of clays with the try gun under the supervision of the legendary Percy Stanbury. Unsurprisingly, he recommended a Webley and a few weeks later I was the proud possessor of a properly fitted gun. The only paperwork was the cheque, and I kept the gun in its case under the bed.

Fast-forward to the present, when I next renew my certificate I shall have to fill in a form running to 34 pages, including the instructions. My GP or someone on his behalf must provide a summary of my medical history covering at least nine potential medical conditions. I shall have to declare all my past sins even down to speed awareness courses, which I don't have to declare to my insurer. I will have to nominate two referees, up from the one required by the last renewal. A firearms enquiry officer (FEO) will probably visit and want, among other things, to look at the steel cabinet in which the gun now resides. The previous renewal cost £49 but the next will be at least £126, an increase of 157% – supposedly the full cost of providing the licensing service.