The number of firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in Scotland have both increased in the year to the end of 2013, according to the latest official Firearm Certificate Statistics published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.
The publication, which presents the latest figures on the number of firearm and shotgun certificates on issue in Scotland at the end of 2013, shows that:
- There were 26,020 firearm certificates on issue at the end of 2013, an increase of one per cent on the previous year, the first increase in the number of firearm certificates on issue in five years.
- The number of firearms held on certificate in 2013 was 84,358. Although this shows an increase of 12,353 in the number of firearms held on certificate compared to 2012, around 10,000 of the increase this year is the result of two legacy police forces now returning data on sound moderators.
- Sound moderators are not firearms in themselves but are subject to certification and as such, are included in the count of firearms held on certificate. If the same recording practice as the previous year had been adopted, the number of firearms held on certificate would have increased by approximately three per cent since 2012.
- There were 48,779 shotgun certificates on issue at the end of 2013, an increase of one per cent from 2012, the first increase in the number of shotgun certificates on issue in four years.
- The number of shotguns held on certificate in 2013 was 141,923, an increase of less than half of one per cent since 2012.
- There were 350 registered firearm dealers in Scotland at the end of 2013, a decrease of one per cent from the 353 registered dealers in 2012.
1. The full statistical publication can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/01097
The statistical data in this bulletin are reported on a calendar year basis, with statistics from as at 31 December 2004 to as at 31 December 2013 available. They are based upon returns from Police Scotland to the Scottish Government.
2. Amendments to firearm regulations in January 1995 increased the validity period of firearm and shotgun certificates from three to five years. This effectively meant that there were no certificate renewals in either 1998 or 1999 and this in turn has had a cyclical effect of increasing the number of certificate renewals, cancellations and certificates on issue in certain years, whilst reducing the number in the intervening years.
3. Since 1997, various changes have been made to firearms legislation to enhance public safety:
- Section 31 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 required businesses that sell air weapons to register with the police as firearm dealers. The section was brought into place in two stages: businesses were able to apply for registration from 6 April 2007 and the offence of not being registered came into effect on 1 October 2007.
- Under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 and Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997, all pistols - otherwise referred to as “handguns” - were banned. A number of types of handgun were exempted from the Act including muzzle-loading guns, shot pistols, slaughtering instruments, firearms used for the humane killing of animals, trophies of war etc.
4. During the production of the ‘Firearm Certificates Statistics, Scotland, 2013’ bulletin it was discovered there were differences in what the eight legacy police forces had included in the miscellaneous category for the type of items possessed and authorised to be purchased or acquired on firearm certificates. The issue related to sound moderators, which are designed to suppress noise and flash. They are not firearms in themselves but are subject to certification and as such, are included in the count of items held on firearm certificates. This in turn affects the total number of items held on firearm certificates. These should be included in the miscellaneous category but only the legacy Fife Constabulary and Strathclyde Police forces had included them in previous returns.
For the data as at 31 December 2013, in addition to these two legacy forces areas, the legacy force areas of Grampian Police and Northern Constabulary have now included sound moderators in the miscellaneous category. The inclusion of sound moderators from these two additional legacy force areas has resulted in an artificial increase of around 10,000 in the number of items held on firearm certificates and 2,500 authorised to be purchased or acquired when compared with the previous year’s figures. Sound moderators will be included in the miscellaneous category for the whole of Scotland from the next bulletin onwards.
5. Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/About
