Further firearms fees increase ‘a tax on shooting’, says BASC

Broken shotgun

An increase in firearms licensing fees announced by the government has been labelled a tax on shooting by BASC.

All statutory firearms licensing fees in Great Britain are set to increase by three per cent from 4 June 2026.

The increase follows a decision by the government last year to impose, on average, a 133 per cent increase in firearms licensing fees without consultation, and without first addressing inefficiencies plaguing the system.

'Eye-watering'

BASC director of firearms Bill Harriman said: “Fees rose by an eye-watering 133 per cent in February last year. This further inflationary increase is being imposed without any guarantee that the chaos and failure which characterises so much of the police administration of firearms licensing will be addressed.

“The increase has been justified by the government in terms of full cost recovery for the police. But without any standardisation of procedures, this amounts to a tax on shooting. There is no guarantee that the additional money will be ring-fenced for firearms licensing, allowing Chief Officers to do what they please with it. The shooting community is subsidising police budgets without any proper service level agreement.”

Failing forces

Earlier this month, we called for failing police firearms licensing departments to be held to account, following the release of the latest performance figures for England and Wales.

Figures released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council reveal that fewer than half of the 43 police forces in England and Wales are meeting the requirement to turn around 80 per cent of applications within 120 days. Among the 23 lowest-performing forces, 11 are completing fewer than 40 per cent of applications within this timeframe, with some managing little more than a quarter.

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