by Deborah Hadfield and Charlie Jacoby
Stories are piling up of legal shooters in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset, with decades of blameless firearms ownership behind them, getting a knock on the door in darkness from armed police who have come to revoke their certificates and seize their guns. Most shooters agree to surrender their certificates and hand over their guns. They are afraid that any fuss will make it less likely they will be granted a certificate in future.
One shooter refused to hand over his guns. He tells his story in the film above. Chris Hart from Plymtree had his guns seized in the past because of a police error. When the police came calling again, he knew what to say and to do, not to let them in, and to record the whole encounter on video and audio.
Others are not so confident. Fieldsports News knows of a dozen people in the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary area, which includes Dorset, who have had their guns seized in the last few weeks. The number of gun certificates revoked in the southwest is nine times higher than normal. These figures were revealed through a freedom of information request from BASC. During the last three months of 2021 Devon & Cornwall police revoked 54 shotgun licenses.
More of our Devon & Cornwall police gun grab coverage:
Update – Kent gun grab saga drags on
Lewis Dedman told us his gun grab story at the start of the summer (Watch that one here). The professional pest controller contacted us because
Police grab air rifles from pest controller and charge him
Professional pest controller Daniel Maddock has lost the tools of his trade and denied, for the moment at least, permission to own another. After applying for a firearms certificate in January 2024, because his boss wanted him to start taking on deer management jobs, he had a home visit by two officers from Police Scotland. He thought they were there to assess his security. Instead, they had come to charge him for ‘lying’ on his medical records.
Firearms cops grapple gundog-trainer granny
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8vtuRQ0lOo Armed police subjected gundog-owning granny Helen Cadman to a terrifying and painful ordeal. They smashed down the gates to her Warwickshire home at 8am
Gruesome shooting accident leads to Gwent Police gun grab
It was a shooting accident on a farm in the Forest of Dean late at night. The police and the ambulance service were magnificent. Gloucestershire
Assault victim fights gun grab and wins
Lifelong fieldsports enthusiast Chris Sharp was the victim of an unprovoked assault – and police took HIS guns away. Shockingly, 10 months later Chris was
Police gun grab – pest controller loses £’000s
Lewis Dedman returned home after an argument with his wife to find a police car in his driveway. Kent police had come for his guns.
Police prise open gun safe – the full story
It was going to be an ordinary day for Phil Waymouth, picking up his son from school, spending time with him. Within 24 hours, he
Firearms licensing: the police view – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 78
Three firearms licensing officers came to the stage of the Carter Jonas Game Fair Theatre in July 2023 to make the case to Charlie Jacoby
Breakdown in Devon & Cornwall gun licensing puts businesses at risk
youtu.be/c-VlnQpCK0Q With police firearms licensing across Devon, Cornwall and Dorset in meltdown, local country and gun shops are having to diversify. Martin and Chris Lamb
Firearms licensing crisis warning
youtu.be/EjbfeeA0utk With the firearms licensing system in crisis, barrister Nick Doherty fears there’s an increased risk of a tragic incident. Nick, who wrote The Firearms
BASC firearms licensing overhaul
youtu.be/GCi5JQRX0Sc by Deborah Hadfield It’s time to scrap the existing gun certificate system across England and Wales and replace it with another. That’s the conclusion
The Metropolitan Police’s head of firearms licensing – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 62
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCT4_dvQQ4 There are 30,000 legal gun-owners in London. Chris Downs, head of SCO 19 at the Met, and Daryn Hufton-Rees from Medcert, which provides medical
