Entering gun on your own certificate

[Stephen]

Ok, I am not a beginner but this is something that always has perplexed me. I have a 10 bore antique shotgun that I intend to shoot occasionally so I shall be entering on my certificate. One RFD of my acquaintance said, just enter it on your certificate and send a notification to your licensing authority. Another said, no you can't do that, you must put the gun through an RFD and he will enter it on your certificate!

I can't see anything in the law that prohibits my entering the gun for myself. Does anyone know for sure what the law is on this matter? If I was selling a certificated gun to another certificate holder, I would be required to enter it onto his certificate. So why can't I do the same when I am transferring an antique gun to myself and changing its status into a shooter?

I checked with my licensing department and they have asked me to return the shotgun certificate to them with details of the antique gun and they will enter it on my certificate. And therefore I have done this as it will cost me nothing more than the price of a stamp. But it still doesn't answer the question, is there any law around this, or is is it just one of the many folk tales that surround firearms licensing in this country?

[Dombo63]

The ONLY thing you are allowed to write on your own certificate is your signature.

[davidh195]

The ONLY thing you are allowed to write on your own certificate is your signature.

I & others I know have entered guns form antique status many times with no issue, once only I was asked to send in the certificate for reprinting. I would be very intrested if anyone could point out or quote the relevant legislation... etc. please.

David

[Stephen]

The ONLY thing you are allowed to write on your own certificate is your signature.

That's what some people say, but others say you are allowed to.

It is only going to apply in transferring an already possessed antique arm to certificate.

I have looked in the Home Office's guide to firearms law and it does not say that you are prohibited from writing in your own certificate. Do you know the specific section of the act that prohibits it?

[Stephen]

The ONLY thing you are allowed to write on your own certificate is your signature.

I & others I know have entered guns form antique status many times with no issue, once only I was asked to send in the certificate for reprinting. I would be very intrested if anyone could point out or quote the relevant legislation... etc. please.

David

Thanks David. As I said, one RFD I consulted said that it was OK to do what you have done but another said don't do it. If it really is against the law, I would like to know the exact section of the act that prohibits it.

[ovenpaa]

My FEO told me many years ago I could not write on my own FAC or SGC however this is not strictly true in some circumstances. Personally if I did have an antique shotgun then I see no reason why I should not add it to my SGC as long as I advised the FEO and thinking about it I had a mate years ago with a Brown Bess that he used for re-enacting. Start of the season he would add it to his SGC and lock it up and end of the season he would advise the FEO it was no longer being used and hang it over the fire place again.

Fair to say he was in the Fens where things are different....

[Andy632]

I chambered a barrel blank for one of my rifles & entered it onto my own ticket, no issues.

[IainWR]

I, as an RFD, have made entries on my own FAC. I see nothing anywhere in the law making that illegal. Similarly, if you own a gun overseas (licensed in your name if the overseas country has a licensing scheme) and want to import it on the basis of an acquisition slot on your FAC, who other than you has the right to put the gun on your ticket? If your Licencing office is co-operative they may prefer that they make the entry for you as "possessed" on the grounds you already own the gun, but I do know some that are most unwilling to do it.

Iain
just being me again

[Stephen]

Well my FEO came around a couple of days ago to see the antique shotgun. I asked him straight out why were going through this palava as nothing in the law seems to mandate it. He said "it's just the way we like to do things" and when pressed said that it stopped people doing stupid things, like putting a short barrelled shotgun on a shotgun certificate.

Fine, I thought, it's not costing me anything so I can't be bothered to argue. However had I needed to be able to shoot the shotgun in the very near future, I think I would have just entered it myself. As it is not against the law, there is nothing they could have done to me. But my principle is not have rows when unnecessary. I've got what I wanted .... or I will, when I get my certificate back.