A Guide to SGC Renewal

[Noddy without Bigears]

I discovered this tip just recently, please take notes if you wish.

 

1. Hold onto your license until the last minute before renewal in the belief that the auction you've been waiting for, for the last 2 months will have that treasured English sbs you've been after, because after chat with local Firearms Dept. they confirm very long lead time for granting certs. so hold onto cert. for auction.

 

2. Find someone who can countersign your application at the last minute only to discover they have a very shaky past, ooooops.

 

3. Find someone else with not so shaky past, nobody springs to mind so off to mothers and have a chat with my mums husband who at 57 (I'm 43) is I suppose my Stepdad?. On discussing application with my new Stepdad he agrees to countersign application and photos.

 

4. FEO turns up at my house 2 days later quite annoyed, with my application in his hand, he states that legally I cannot be in possession of my shotguns as my license has now expired. He gives me the option of removing my guns into police custody until my renewal is granted or transfer the guns to another cert. holder there and then, I take the later option and phone the FEO later to confirm this has been done.

 

5. FEO notices name of countersignatory and expresses surprise that I know this person, brief explaination given and he states that this is not ideal. Now I begin to think this is all going to go horribly wrong.

 

6. 1 week later new cert. turns up with a message from the FEO via my Stepdad, who as it happens drinks with the FEO (found out he has known him for years), in his local, don't use my Stepdad to countersign and don't leave it so late next time.

 

Now the FEO could have been a right jobsworth over this but he wasn't, how much my Stepdads friendship with him had to do with I'm not so sure, but all in all a great bloke.

[gsmith]

Although my FAC and SGC renewal went smooth this year somthing i did learn during my DSC1 no matter what the police force say, if your FAC or SGC has expired and the new one has not turned up your are in ilegal posesion of a firearm.

 

Its also an offence to have a firearm and no certificate that also includes sending it in for a variation,

 

The home office guide lines for the police backs this up, well worth a read as my issuing force said to me no its ok during renewal while we have your certificate its noted on the police system, "rubbish"