gun security Advice Required Please

[Tonka54]

Hi all

I could really use a little advice about gun security in Leicestershire police area.

I live in a park home and all the walls are composite and stud, so not good for gun cabinet installation, also I do not have the option to fix to the concrete base and access through the floor of the home.  What I do have is a brick built store with a solid roof, one wooden door, which opens to the outside and no windows, this is covered by an alarm system and CCTV which has remote storage of the footage and is also linked to my mobile phone.

Could anybody advise if I mounted my gun cabinet in this building would it be acceptable to the Leicestershire police firearms department, if not, what other options do I Have.

[London Best]

I would suggest that the best people to ask are Leicestershire Firearms Department.

[Rewulf]

17 hours ago, Tonka54 said:

Could anybody advise if I mounted my gun cabinet in this building would it be acceptable to the Leicestershire police firearms department, if not, what other options do I Have.

Highly unlikely they would be OK with an outside building , but its worth asking, Leicestershire are a 'good' licencing area, very sensible.

If it was me , I would consider some kind of steel floor plate under the caravan, and securely bolted through the floor to another plate , then mount your cabinet to that.
The only way thieves could remove the cabinet, is by tearing a large section of floor out.

[eddoakley]

The cabinets I've seen in caravans have all been bolted to the chassis.

 

Edd

 

[Tonka54]

Yes indeed, I have contacted them by email and awaiting a reply, the problem is Leicester's FEO is not available at the moment due to covid-19, they cannot confirm when they will be available to resume processing grant applications.

Thanks for your reply Rewulf, but I cannot gain access through the floor of my park home to the steel frame or the concrete base. The underside is fully insulated from below and this is sealed to protect plumbing runs and heating pipework, any attempt to gain access this way would void the home's warrantee.   

[udderlyoffroad]

19 minutes ago, Tonka54 said:

Yes indeed, I have contacted them by email and awaiting a reply,

Meantime, google "Home office security guidance for firearms" and have a read of the pdf.  IT's a long document, but you can ignore the irrelevant parts (i.e. guidance for museums, slaughterhouses, etc)

Decision ultimately rests with your FEO.

But, I have a suspicion that he will view the cabinet bolted to the framework of your mobile home (the studs) the lesser of two evils compared to an unoccupied (albeit relatively secure) outbuilding.

If they're metal studs, get the appropriate fixing, i.e. self-drilling 'Tek' screws with a large washer head, and secure the cabinet with those.  Don't feel you have to use the cabinet's original holes.

[Tonka54]

Thanks guys,   I will contact the FEO and see what he suggests, I will update this post when I know for sure on the off chance it will help somebody else. 

[old man]

This decision would probably be in the remit of the manager not FLO?

[London Best]

58 minutes ago, old man said:

This decision would probably be in the remit of the manager not FLO?

Beat me to it!
The Firearms Enquiry Officer can only make recommendations. The OP should telephone and speak personally to the FLM...Firearms Licensing Manager. He is the man who signs your issued certificates pp the Chief Constable.

[enfieldspares]

I shot in the late 1980s and early 1990s with a friend, in Leicestershire who lived in a fixed static caravan on his smallholding. He had both shotgun and .308 stalking rifle approved and kept in a cabinet bolted through the caravan floor with a steel plate beneath. That having been said it's now 2021 not 1991 and policies change. But, yes, in the past such has been passed as OK.

[wymberley]

25 minutes ago, London Best said:

Beat me to it!
The Firearms Enquiry Officer can only make recommendations. The OP should telephone and speak personally to the FLM...Firearms Licensing Manager. He is the man who signs your issued certificates pp the Chief Constable.

Are you sure about that?

[London Best]

Just now, wymberley said:

Are you sure about that?

Absolutely positive. In my county for sure.

[bruno22rf]

Do the best you can with the cabinet but keep the forend seperate in a locked steel case?

[wymberley]

3 minutes ago, London Best said:

Absolutely positive. In my county for sure.

Cheers. I understand the 'pp' but was under the impression that this could not be delegated and both the SGC and FAC had to be signed by the CC. Neither of mine have ever been signed by anyone else. Interesting point though as if your local Constabulary does this and they should not have then your certificates are invalid.

[London Best]

6 minutes ago, wymberley said:

Cheers. I understand the 'pp' but was under the impression that this could not be delegated and both the SGC and FAC had to be signed by the CC. Neither of mine have ever been signed by anyone else. Interesting point though as if your local Constabulary does this and they should not have then your certificates are invalid.

It’s been done that way for many years, certainly as long as I can remember noticing it. The FLM doesn’t actually write pp but just signs it as ‘Chief Officer of Police”.

[wymberley]

4 minutes ago, London Best said:

It’s been done that way for many years, certainly as long as I can remember noticing it. The FLM doesn’t actually write pp but just signs it as ‘Chief Officer of Police”.

Can you decipher your current ones?

[London Best]

Just now, wymberley said:

Can you decipher your current ones?

I have known the last two Licensing Managers and they signed my last three renewals. Renewed last year and do not know the signatory nor their rank, but google tells me they are not one of the top half dozen ranks in the area.

[wymberley]

5 minutes ago, London Best said:

I have known the last two Licensing Managers and they signed my last three renewals. Renewed last year and do not know the signatory nor their rank, but google tells me they are not one of the top half dozen ranks in the area.

Thanks for that. Have to say that contradicts everything that I believed.

[southeastpete]

When you talk to the flo and ask, maybe give all the options you have so they can pick their favourite. 

One could be a cabinet in the brick shed that holds the action, but the barrels and foreend in a locked cupboard inside or something..?

[Tonka54]

  6 hours ago, snow white said:

Hi we live in static van you can bolt it to Chassie 

Lie it on its back 

Thanks Snow White But unfortunately For reasons already posted I do not have this option, However, I have took the advice of the members who have commented and explained the situation to the Leicestershire police firearms department.

They made it clear that their FEO would most likely turn his nose up at the cabinet being mounted in an "outbuilding", even though it is brick and concrete block constructed.

They did agree in principle to another idea of mounting the cabinet inside a small cupboard, the backwall of which I can fix through into the wooden stud with three fixing points, then drill three fresh fixing points through the cabinet and through the double Melamine side of the cupboard, passing blind head coach bolts through steel reinforcing straps and bolting the whole lot together inside the cabinet.

A lot of work, and of course I have lost the storage space for my 1960's mohair bell bottom trousers, embroidered silk shirts and Cuban healed boots but there you go, I guess some sacrifices just have to be made.😜  

[mossy835]

On 04/03/2021 at 13:28, eddoakley said:

The cabinets I've seen in caravans have all been bolted to the chassis.

 

Edd

 

 

 

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