Anyone remember Post Office gun licence?

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markie

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My local RFD is in his 80s. He told me one day, that on his 17th birthday he went to the Post office, got a gun licence then went down to the gun shop and bought a S&W .22 revolver and a .22 rifle. I'm aware that this was possible for shotguns but was it also for hand guns and rifles?

I would guess that this was mid/late 1950. He also went off to join the Paras on the same day. He's a very clever guy and doesn't exhibit signs of any age related problems.

Ideas. comments?
 
Here is a old FAC from 1965.

1778369260028.webp




An old gun license from 1941

1778369568327.webp



One from 1870

1778369770332.webp
 
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Fascinating, so if I read the 1870 one right, air guns were originally licensed? So they must have been unlicensed at some time?
 
I remember my Dad saying about he used to have to go to the post office to buy a licence, was it literally just fill the book out and pay a couple of bob?
 
Bart Simpson said:
Fascinating, so if I read the 1870 one right, air guns were originally licensed? So they must have been unlicensed at some time?
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It was a tax more than a license.

Quote

LEGISLATION
Gun Licence Act 1870
1.11 Prior to the enactment of the Pistols Act 1903, there were very limited controls over what might loosely be called ‘firearms’.

The Gun Licence Act 1870 was principally a revenue-raising instrument.

It defined “gun” as including:
….a firearm of any description and an air gun or any other kind of gun from which any shot, bullet, or other missile can be discharged.

1.12 A licence was required (to be obtained annually on payment of Excise duty42) by every
person who would “use or carry” a gun in the United Kingdom.

The penalty for using
or carrying a gun outside the curtilage of a dwelling house was the forfeiture of a
specified sum.


1.13 Where a gun was carried “in parts” by two or more persons in company, each of those
persons was deemed to “carry the gun”.

The principle purpose of the provision was to defeat excise duty avoidance. By contrast, later enactments that included in the definition of a “firearm”, “parts” or “component parts”, appear to have done so as part of the strategy for curtailing the availability of guns in the United Kingdom.

You can read more about the changes and the Firearms act in general plus recommendations the QC at the time thought was needing changed.

 
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crissdee said:
First "proper" FACs came in 1968 iirc, because of three coppers getting shot in 1966.
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I recall watching an old news reel in the '70's about the Dibble running a National Gun Amnesty in the late '60's ('67/ '68 ?) and thousands of Firearms were handed in. I remember it showed tables full of WW2 stuff - Lee Enfield's, Bren's, Tommy guns, Lugers and the like !
Probably brought home by returning Troops either as souvenirs / trophies or in case it ever kicked off again ?!
 
@Bighit are these your own photos or from the Web? As I grew up in Donnington where the second certificate was issued, the granville was a large colliery and at that time most of the houses were for miners or military serving at the army depot, the depot still stores the metal used to make the victoria cross medal for valor. Donnington also has a splendid bakery 🤣
 
The FAC dates back to the 1920 Firearms Act, which made rifles and pistols subject to registration, and came about because the British authorities were worried about the possibility of a 1917-style revolution.

The 1937 Firearms Act prohibited machine-guns, as there was concern they might be used for poaching deer.

Shotguns were only controlled with the passing of the 1968 Firearms Act, but it was a rubber-stamp exercise; there was no requirement to register shotguns or store them safely until the 1988 Firearms (Amendment) Act. The latter was the one that banned centrefire self-loading and pump action rifles.

Pistols went in 1997 (centrefire) and 1998 (rimfire).

At some point between the 1930s and 1950s personal protection ceased to be a "good reason" for an FAC.
 
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ollie. said:
@Bighit are these your own photos or from the Web? As I grew up in Donnington where the second certificate was issued, the granville was a large colliery and at that time most of the houses were for miners or military serving at the army depot, the depot still stores the metal used to make the victoria cross medal for valor. Donnington also has a splendid bakery 🤣
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They are from online .
 
Besides all the licenses for section 1 and shotguns didn't there also used to be license to shoot duck, geese, pheasant etc from the post office?
 
I do seem to remember an early "Pistols act" said that a licence was required, UNLESS you were only going to use it at home.
 
It was just before my time, but I remember my dad saying he used to get his shotgun licence from the post office, but now he had to get it from the police station - it was literally a formality, even when I got my first one some 45 years ago.

I remember moving to Liverpool about 35 years ago and I wanted to renew my shotgun cert. - I went to three police stations before found one that even had the form, let alone knew how to fill it in, one officer even told me no one bothered with them and it was the first time he had ever been asked for one :oops: Shrug tt Homer face palm
 
Not firearms, but my grandfather told me that a kid you got a driving licence from the post office. No test. You just paid an amount for it and that was it.
 
I knew that this was a thing for shotgun licences years back, but din't know you could at one time do it with sec 1 firearms. Interesting all these changes that have happened.
 
spikey said:
The FAC dates back to the 1920 Firearms Act, which made rifles and pistols subject to registration, and came about because the British authorities were worried about the possibility of a 1917-style revolution.

The 1937 Firearms Act prohibited machine-guns, as there was concern they might be used for poaching deer.

Shotguns were only controlled with the passing of the 1968 Firearms Act, but it was a rubber-stamp exercise; there was no requirement to register shotguns or store them safely until the 1988 Firearms (Amendment) Act. The latter was the one that banned centrefire self-loading and pump action rifles.

Pistols went in 1997 (centrefire) and 1998 (rimfire).

At some point between the 1930s and 1950s personal protection ceased to be a "good reason" for an FAC.
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An edit:

One bought the Game Licence (correctly known as the Licence to Kill Game...) from the Post Office. It was abolished about twenty years ago in the UK.
 
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