Be Careful guys, let my story be a word of warning...
I original got a shotgun cert when I was in my 20's and I'm now 48, in the last 10 years I also got firearms mainly for overland, as I was a pest controller I had my FAC opened after only 3 months, I have been a regular shooter ever since.
The bad news is I have a 23 year old son !
My son was living in a flat in a rough area, he was unemployed due to complications with type 1 diabetes, one night while going to the local petrol for bread and milk, he was jumped and beaten up by a gang of men and had all his money stolen.
A few weeks later, he was waiting for his money to go into the bank at midnight and he needed to buy lucozade and chocolate as his blood sugars where low, so the only thing he could do is go to the petrol station and use the cash machine, but a he was recently mugged there, he was afraid so stupidly he took as baseball bat with him to scare off any potential muggers. Nothing happened and he bought is stuff from the garage, but on the way home he was stopped by police as a random check as it was late, they found the bat under his coat and he was arrested and prosecuted for carrying an offensive weapon.
I had the usual checks done as he was related to me and all was in order and that was that.
then a couple of years went by and my son got involved with a woman his own age, but turn out she had Bi Polar and she used to beat him up, they where both forever phoning the police on each other during an argument, (too much Jeremy Kyle if you ask me), they eventually split up and my son started dating one of his ex girlfriends friends, the ex found out and phoned the police and said he was a drug dealer and a motorbike thief. Next thing is his door gets kicked in at 4am by police while he was in bed. they ripped the flat apart and left it in a hell of a mess. (my son is not a drug dealer by the way, but has been known to smoke cannabis when his hands are in pain due to the diabetes.
The next day he saw his ex girlfriend walking down the road, (and had since found out from mutual friends that it was her that called the police and sent them to his flat) He pulled over on his motorbike and called he a "******* Sl*g" and rode off. She then phoned the police and reported him and the local chippy had CCTV of him pulling over and saying something to her, so he got arrested and charged for swearing in a public place.
So in August 2017 he and his partner have a big row and split up, both of them phone the police on each other and say he/she threatened to do this, blah blah blah...
I get the phone call the next day from firearms asking if my son was living with me, I said no he has had his own flat for years. They inform me that he and his girlfriend had both phoned the police on each other the night before and as usual they have to contact me to check everything is ok and my firearms are safe.
The firearms officer asked could he come and check my firearms and I said yes, so an hour later he arrived, but he wanted me to surrender my firearms for a week or two till things with my son and his girlfriend had calmed down, I was going on holiday the following week so I agreed, so we agreed the police would look after my firearms for 3 weeks till I returned.
When I returned, I contacted to police to arrange to have my guns back, but I was told that the firearms manager would have to approve it first. I tried contacting them again after a few weeks of hearing nothing back, then it turned into months, then 6 months had passed, my phone calls and messages to the firearms department where being ignored. I eventually got the firearms manageress on the phone one day and I asked why it was taking so long for my firearms to be returned and she said, they are trying to establish where my son was living, I said why didn't you ask me that 6 months ago, and I gave her his address and contact details, another month passed and nothing, then another month, eventually I got though on the phone again and she told my that she wanted me to prove my son didn't live at my address, I said " how can i prove he does not live at my address ?", I have her his contact details, I gave her his registration number off his van so she could do a check, she even spoke to my son and arranged to have a female police officer meet him the next morning at his home, but she never turned up. Eventually after 11 months of not having my firearms back, and the past few months she had ignored all my calls and messages on the answer machine asking for an update, I sent an email of complaint to the Chief of Police and also carbon copied the same email to my local MP, saying how this has dragged on and on and its only an issue over my storage and my son does not even have a key to my house and he does not even live in the same County as me and I was asking if someone could step in and resolve this situation for me.
In the meantime, I thought of a good solution myself, I went to my local gun club and saw all the old faces, all of whom where chatting to me and said it was good to see me back, and I told them the story of what is going on, and said I wanted to re join and also hire a gun cabinet for 12 months, so at least I could get target practice and get to clean and service my guns, they agreed and let me join the club and hired me a cabinet.
I phoned firearms and left a message on the machine saying I was now a member of the gun club again and had hired a gun cabinet, so I would keep all my guns there for club use only, and I would not do any overland until she was happy my son didn't live with me.
a week after I sent the email, I got a phone call from the firearms manageress asking could I meed with her at police headquarters, so I booked a day off work and went to the meeting, thinking problem solved and I would collect my guns and take them to the club, but when I got there, I was taken in to a big conference room and 2 other women joined us, they basically said they are not convinced that my son did not live at my address and therefore did not want to return my guns to me, they then went on to say they I had 2 options. Option 1 I could voluntary surrender my licence permanently or 2 they would take if off me.
I said what about option 3, my guns go to the gun club and I only use them on the target range ?
They looked at each other and said something along the lines of they will put it to the ACC, but I could tell by the way they spoke and their attitudes that they where not even going to bother as that was not an option, they also said that my complaint email had been passed to them and this was what the meeting was for, and they said they would be in touch within a week.
a few days later I got a phone call from a firearms officer asking could he come to my house to discuss my firearms, I said yes and he arrived within an hour. When he arrived he sat down and said "it's not good news i'm afraid", and he produced a letter saying, my firearms and shotgun licences had been revoked and I must hand over all my ammunition, so I had to hand over all my ammo and counted it all and was given a receipt.
I was told I can appeal, but only through a solicitor through the courts, and win, lose or draw, I have to pay all the costs for my solicitor, the courts, the police and the police solicitors.
I was totally gobsmacked, I can't believe what has just happened, all the years of getting shooting permissions and the amount of money I have spend on my guns and ammo, to have the lot taken away, and they would not even give me a reason.
I am a self employed sub contractor, so no way on earth can I afford a solicitor, I don't do drugs, I don't even drink, I have never been arrested in my life
I am a genuine honest guy and do no wrong, so why the hell are the police doing this to me, I am being victimized by the police who are supposed to be there to help us.
Then to top it off, I spoke to the gun club to see if they could get my guns from the police and sell them for me, they even said I could donate one of them to the club and I could still use it on the range, so I agreed. but the chairman told me on the phone he was away for 10 days and he would arrange for collection from the police in 10 days.
(The Police have given me only 21 days to find someone to take my guns)Tonight (the 10th Day) the chairman of the gun club text me and said, the committee have said they no longer want me in the club and they cannot take my guns, so they will refund my membership and the money for the cabinet, when I asked what was the reason for this , he said he cannot discuss it.
So on my last text to him, I asked was the club under pressure from the police as I made a complaint to the police chief ( He didn't reply )
So be careful if this can happen to me, then it can happen to anyone.
And I even told the police I would contact McAvoys gun shop and ask them to sell my guns for me, and when I phoned McAvoys in Wigan, they said " Sorry we don't have enough display space for our own guns, so we don't want to buy them and we can't sell them for you"
