15 year old shotgun possession

[pukeington]

This is my first question so sorry if anything here sounds dumb or obvious I did try and do my research before coming here  . 

My question is that I am 15 year old who is very enthusiastic with firearms and loves to go clay Pidgeon shooting and wants to own my own shotgun and licence (to make things more consistent and a lot cheaper). The only issue is that although my parents do support me in my pursuit of a legal licence, they themselves do not want to get licences and I understand that even if I were to get a licence legally I cannot purchase a gun or ammunition, but I can be gifted them. So if I were to get a licence but my parents didnt, and I didnt know anyone well enough who has a licence who would be willing to just give me a shotgun, is there anyway I could aquire my own shotgun and ammo at all? Could my parent be like the ones that give the money and then the current shotgun owner puts it on my licence or something similar? Not really sure how to go about this, and not 100% clear on storage laws either since I have seen something about how a 18+ person needs to be responsible for storage or something but im not sure how that would happen if neither parents would be certificate holders. Long story short/in summary how would I, a 15 year old licence holder and the sole licence holder in the family go about acquiring a shotgun and ammo?

Thanks for all readers and answerers.  

[DUNKS]

You do sound like a sensible lad so my advice would be to phone your local FEO. contrary to popular belief they usually are very helpful. Regardless of the law these are the guys you have to satisfy.

[Old farrier]

There’s other things to consider 

ie transportation or the shotgun to the clay ground and or the farm for pigeon shooting 

as dunks said ask the appropriate people 

welcome to the forum 😊👍

[scarecrow243]

if your parents agree you can get an uncle etc to help but they would need a gun cabinet in their house  so they could keep the gun for you plus take you to the clay ground ps you would have to keep hold of the keys for the cabinet

[rcooke25552]

Unless it’s changed in the last 10 years, I had my SGC at 15 and had my own gun. Parents didn’t have SGC, had my own cabinet in my parents house and obviously only I had keys. 

When I was 16 I used to ride my moped to go wildfowling / clays and gun broke down in back pack, was advised this to be legal at the time by my feo. 

Purchasing cartridges both basc and FEO advised me that an adult has to be present to make the purchase, but the certificate holder can be under 18 and the adult doesn’t have to have a certificate. As long as a certificate is produced and an adult present. 

atb 

[Rim Fire]

I thought you had to be 18 plus to to carry or shoot a shotgun on there own or be in the presence of an adult 

[pukeington]

10 hours ago, Old farrier said:

There’s other things to consider 

ie transportation or the shotgun to the clay ground and or the farm for pigeon shooting 

as dunks said ask the appropriate people 

welcome to the forum 😊👍

 

9 hours ago, scarecrow243 said:

if your parents agree you can get an uncle etc to help but they would need a gun cabinet in their house  so they could keep the gun for you plus take you to the clay ground ps you would have to keep hold of the keys for the cabinet

 

11 hours ago, DUNKS said:

You do sound like a sensible lad so my advice would be to phone your local FEO. contrary to popular belief they usually are very helpful. Regardless of the law these are the guys you have to satisfy.

Thanks for these quick and useful replies! I will most likely phone my local firearms licensing department and I will keep you all updated to help out anyone in a similar situation to me.

9 hours ago, rcooke25552 said:

Unless it’s changed in the last 10 years, I had my SGC at 15 and had my own gun. Parents didn’t have SGC, had my own cabinet in my parents house and obviously only I had keys. 

When I was 16 I used to ride my moped to go wildfowling / clays and gun broke down in back pack, was advised this to be legal at the time by my feo. 

Purchasing cartridges both basc and FEO advised me that an adult has to be present to make the purchase, but the certificate holder can be under 18 and the adult doesn’t have to have a certificate. As long as a certificate is produced and an adult present. 

atb 

Thanks for this “real world” answer it gives me some more perspective, when I call up my feo I hope that this is the answer they will give me since it seems the best I could hope for, hopefully it hasn't changed

55 minutes ago, Rim Fire said:

I thought you had to be 18 plus to to carry or shoot a shotgun on there own or be in the presence of an adult 

As far as I know from the law I have read you have to be 15 to own and shoot shoot unsupervised as long as you have a SGC.

[stuartyboy]

I got my license at around 18 and no one else in the family shot. It would help greatly if you had someone who could take you under their wing, like a mentor. You would learn from them, gain more from the experience. Licensing would be more inclined to look at your application positively if you had the support from another license holder. They could also countersign your application. 

Best bet is to contact your Licensing department for advice. You will get a lot of advice from sites like this, but only the FEO can offer proper advice  based on the information you give him.

Good luck with it all, and even if you have to wait a couple of years before applying, its worth the wait.

[Fisheruk]

Welcome aboard.  which area are you in?

[pukeington]

5 minutes ago, Fisheruk said:

Welcome aboard.  which area are you in?

Thanks, I'm in bath, Somerset 

[Fisheruk]

Ok, maybe someone on the forum may be able to help you, bit far from me. Just another thought, you can have a sharing condition put on your certificate so that you can use a local friend. May help with storage. As far as gifting a gun, it’s been done by folk on this forum before, so you never know your luck.

[pukeington]

4 minutes ago, Fisheruk said:

Ok, maybe someone on the forum may be able to help you, bit far from me. Just another thought, you can have a sharing condition put on your certificate so that you can use a local friend. May help with storage. As far as gifting a gun, it’s been done by folk on this forum before, so you never know your luck.

Thanks for the advice, only issue is I dont really know anyone well who is a licence holder, if what rcooke25552 said is still correct today then that pretty much solves all my problems, but is it still correct today is the question. I will most likely contact an FEO for advice. 👍

[CharlieT]

Welcome to the forum.

As has been said, have a chat with your FEO and find out from the horses mouth what you can actually do.

I don't know where in Somerset you are but I live on Exmoor, just over the Somerset border in Devon. If you are not too far from me, I would be more than willing to act as your honorary uncle and buy and gift you a shotgun. 

[Fisheruk]

2 minutes ago, CharlieT said:

Welcome to the forum.

As has been said, have a chat with your FEO and find out from the horses mouth what you can actually do.

I don't know where in Somerset you are but I live on Exmoor, just over the Somerset border in Devon. If you are not too far from me, I would be more than willing to act as your honorary uncle and buy and gift you a shotgun. 

There you go 👍👏

[pukeington]

54 minutes ago, CharlieT said:

Welcome to the forum.

As has been said, have a chat with your FEO and find out from the horses mouth what you can actually do.

I don't know where in Somerset you are but I live on Exmoor, just over the Somerset border in Devon. If you are not too far from me, I would be more than willing to act as your honorary uncle and buy and gift you a shotgun. 

Thanks a lot!  Good to know that you and probably others like you exist and are ok to do that, I live in Bath, its just below Bristol so about a 1 hour 30 min drive maybe, which I reckon would be fine with my parents when/if that day comes. That sorts out that main issue of acquiring a gun, and if what rcooke25552 said about ammunition was correct then that issue too is sorted.  I searched alot and found no issues when it comes to transportation as long as the licence holder is present and in possession of the gun while in the car. Only thing now that I have found is issues with storage, if what rcooke25552 said is still correct it should be fine but I found this :

• Where a firearm or shotgun holder is under the age of 18, responsibility for the secure storage of the firearms and ammunition held on that young person's certificate must be assumed by a person aged 18 or over.

I dont know if that means that person aged over 18 has to be a licence holder or not or if they could just be a parent but then how could they have responsibility if I am the only one allowed to access that cabinet. I will probably email my local firearms dept. about that particular issue, the ammunition one and any others but seems like coming here was a good idea ive made quite a bit of progress and learnt quite a bit too! 

[CharlieT]

Looks like you are gradually ticking off all the hurdles. 

Just to confirm, I'm happy to help, so if you need it, just message me on here and we will sort it.

[button]

On 31/12/2020 at 13:49, CharlieT said:

Looks like you are gradually ticking off all the hurdles. 

Just to confirm, I'm happy to help, so if you need it, just message me on here and we will sort it.

Absolute gentleman 👍

[arjimlad]

If you enjoy clays it might be better to ask someone in your club for help, you will also need a referee, and someone who has seen you shoot & knows your attitude to safety could be a good referee. 

[pukeington]

12 hours ago, arjimlad said:

If you enjoy clays it might be better to ask someone in your club for help, you will also need a referee, and someone who has seen you shoot & knows your attitude to safety could be a good referee. 

Thanks for the advice however, i am not a member of a club and I havemt been to the same clay place more than twice, I go to different places instead of the same place. And with a referee I was thinking about my headmaster who is also a regular shooter and has seen me shoot both rifles and shotguns on several occassions. And he knows me personally quite well too obviously as I attend his school. Thanks again!

[arjimlad]

10 hours ago, pukeington said:

Thanks for the advice however, i am not a member of a club and I havemt been to the same clay place more than twice, I go to different places instead of the same place. And with a referee I was thinking about my headmaster who is also a regular shooter and has seen me shoot both rifles and shotguns on several occassions. And he knows me personally quite well too obviously as I attend his school. Thanks again!

Good plan. I think you'll find the police contact your school in any event to get a reference so you're ahead of the game there.  

[zipdog]

I know it seems like an age away but it's only two years, and most of that we will be locked down at this rate. 

Id apply for a gun licence, which will probs take 12 months anyway, then wait until you're 17 and buy one. I think its still 17 to buy a shotgun. The second reason for this is your build will change a lot in them two years also, so it will save you buying another gun when the first no longer fits. 

Get an airgun in-between to keep you amused. 

Just now, zipdog said:

I know it seems like an age away but it's only three years, and most of that we will be locked down at this rate. 

Id apply for a gun licence, which will probs take 12-14 months anyway, then wait until you're 18 and buy one. The second reason for this is your build will change a lot in them two years also, so it will save you buying another gun when the first no longer fits. 

Get an airgun in-between to keep you amused. 

It was always 17 in my day, the law must have changed.