Avon & Somerset Police

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Mark Lamont

Mark Lamont

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Had a knock at the door today by 2 uniformed police officers. They asked to speak to the wife, which I duly invited them in to do so. She went white as a sheet as she immediately thought somebody was dead. Thankfully not the case.

They informed us that they had received “intelligence” that we had firearms on the property beneath our bed. The Mrs immediately changed a shade of white to red. Informed the officers we did indeed have air rifles onsite, and all were perfectly UK legal sub 12ft/lb rifles & sub 6ft/lb pistols.

The intelligence came from a report from a medequip technician who came to our house 5th January to survey areas for recommendations for assisted living items for the Mrs. Apparently the word air rifle stored under the bed in hard cases means firearms and makes us a concern to the wider public according to medequip “firearms expert technicians”. Formal complaint lodged already and request for data with them as to how they’ve escalated that to A&S. If there is a legal escalation with medequip after the compliant process is satisfied I will be doing so!

We showed the officers the items and then we got the phrase, we don’t know what we are looking at. At this point I offered to call A&S firearms team, NSRA legal and technical team, BASC legal division, and any of the 3 HOA approved ranges myself and my family are all members off. I even showed the chrono history for each rifle and pistol. They didn’t know what a chronograph was.

They then suggested they’d leave us in peace and call for further advice. 3 hours later after camping out on our driveway (much to the neighbours amusement) 2 firearms officers turned up. They had travelled from Mindhead to Portishead… that’s some distance!

The now 4 police officers were welcomed back in to our house and presented with the cased air rifles/pistols and shown the chronograph results for each. The fella from them joked I had them packaged better than they store their own firearms, and when seeing the target cards also suggested the Mrs shoots better than them… I didn’t want to point out that was my daughters card and made no further comment.

Firearms team left a little annoyed the local team had called them to this enquiry. I was beyond pissed they’d dragged this out for 3 hours of my day and wasted every bodies time.

The icing on the cake, after the firearms team left… we suggested that the local officers don’t waste their time and perhaps they’d like to deal with the 2 untaxed cars and 1 uninsured car (all on a public road, not a driveway) all belonging to the same house opposite and being used daily for school runs. We were then informed that unless the car being uninsured was captured whilst driving there is nothing they can do. The untaxed vehicles had to be untaxed for 6+ months for them to take any action. I offered video for each car being driven since October 2025, they declined to accept my evidence… Jesus Christ.

So the simple statement that we had “firearms” under our bed warranted 2 police and 2 firearms team to attend and sit outside our house for 3+ hours. But when you show 3 illegal vehicles infront of their own eyes… bugger all they can do. The irony of this was not lost on them or us. This is surely all a joke.
 
We live in a world where no matter how improbable or even impossible the report or accusation made, it is believed as having come down on a stone tablet from God in the eyes of the law until they can prove otherwise, and even then they don’t want to see evidence that disproves the accusation.

In your case, it clearly wasn’t taken that seriously, if it were, the initial response would have been firearms officers rather than two normal officers with no clue what they were looking at. Does the member of staff from Medequip bear some responsibility? Yes, but I can also imagine at some level they may be required to notify a manger etc. of any potential concerns, said manager knowing less than nothing then thinks they have some need to call in an air strike the police.

My wife and I went through a similar situation over a year ago, false accusations were made (not firearms related, though our guns were quickly relocated as a precaution). What I found most frustrating is nobody was actually interested in speaking to us to get our side or establish the truth, if it didn’t fit the narrative being pushed by someone who was clearly clueless, it didn’t matter, we were treated as though guilty until they eventually had to begrudgingly give up months later.

Take some small amount of comfort in this only lasting a few hours and common sense prevailing, it won’t feel like a win, but it could have been a lot worse.
 
Ashf9999 said:
Good Lord. I understand (from personal experience when my father was alive) private care staff and the likes of district nurses, ambulance people etc have a policy to follow to report anything they think they’ve seen to be a gun. It is ridiculous.
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No, there isn't a policy to report, it just depends on if they know what they are looking at. If they don't it's a 'gun' and they would be remiss not to pass it up the line.

For the record, I've stopped 'gun' reports based on the item clearly being an air rifle, but I've also passed on reports of staff being threatened directly or indirectly with guns of any sort.
 
Lightning22 said:
No, there isn't a policy to report, it just depends on if they know what they are looking at. If they don't it's a 'gun' and they would be remiss not to pass it up the line.

For the record, I've stopped 'gun' reports based on the item clearly being an air rifle, but I've also passed on reports of staff being threatened directly or indirectly with guns of any sort.
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Interesting. Though obviously a private company can do what they wish, the Ts&Cs of (what was) the private carer company we used for my father highlighted ‘any guns/firearms’ on their list of items they would report if found (not threatened with - obviously that would) - this being in the individual’s home. On a separate occasion we had to call out an ambulance for him. I’d been over there shooting in the garden and the attending technician nipped to the loo when he was here and found my (in a slip) air rifle that I’d quickly stuck it out the way, and said if it was a gun it’d have to be reported. His colleague stepped in and said he’d needed a hand and the matter was dropped. This was back between late 2019/ very early 2020, as it was just before Covid.

I have some friends in Gloucestershire NHS and so will ask them if they’re aware of what current policy requires them to do.

EDIT - Just found this for Great Western - it does confirm their policy of potentially informing police https://www.gwh.nhs.uk/media/wa5dv0wh/security-policy.pdf
Is Devon’s security policy different then?
 
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Ashf9999 said:
Interesting. Though obviously a private company can do what they wish, the Ts&Cs of (what was) the private carer company we used for my father highlighted ‘any guns/firearms’ on their list of items they would report if found (not threatened with - obviously that would) - this being in the individual’s home. On a separate occasion we had to call out an ambulance for him. I’d been over there shooting in the garden and the attending technician nipped to the loo when he was here and found my (in a slip) air rifle that I’d quickly stuck it out the way, and said if it was a gun it’d have to be reported. His colleague stepped in and said he’d needed a hand and the matter was dropped. This was back between late 2019/ very early 2020, as it was just before Covid.

I have some friends in Gloucestershire NHS and so will ask them if they’re aware of what current policy requires them to do.

EDIT - Just found this for Great Western - it does confirm their policy of potentially informing police https://www.gwh.nhs.uk/media/wa5dv0wh/security-policy.pdf
Is Devon different then?
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I'm afraid your attending technician was talking ********.
 
Last paragraph of the Avon & Somerset document? How does Devon’s equate then?
 
This is how people can get caught out for breaching the safe storage rules .



On 31 July 2023, a Statutory Instrument clarified the ‘reasonable precautions’ air weapons owners must take to safely store air weapons away from children. Whenever under 18s are present, air weapons must be stored securely, out of sight, and separately from ammunition.

www.gov.uk

Safe handling of air guns

Guidance on safe handling and storage of air guns and air rifles.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

If a Carer is under 18 ( they can be under 18 during training ) and they can access it then you MAY end up in the poop.

This is not the first time some one has had the Police at their door due to a carer finding an airgun in a house and reporting it.

F

Thread 'Dad raided for firearms by the police'

My dad's unwell at the minute, having to have carers four times a day. Went back to check on him the other week at 11.45pm ish. When I pulled up there was four police cars and about 8 coppers, ready to put the door in. I got there just in time.

What had happened was, the carers had been snooping round the house and seen my dad's old BSA meteors and his air pistol. They'd left and phoned the police stating he had a shotgun and a hand gun. They seized the guns, however we got them back 3 days later, cocked and in evidence bags marked as safe.

Not a problem really, until I realised two of...
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Lightning22 said:
What part of it is wrong?
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I never said it was wrong. It seems to support our experience of neighbouring Gloucestershire, but you said the ambulance tech was talking crap and there isn’t a policy. Yet it’s on, for example, Avon & Somerset’s Security Policy document.
 
Ashf9999 said:
I never said it was wrong. It seems to support our experience of neighbouring Gloucestershire, but you said the ambulance tech was talking crap and there isn’t a policy. Yet it’s on, for example, Avon & Somerset’s Security Policy document.
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You do understand that Avon and Somerset Police isn't the ambulance service or the hospital Trust whose documentation you shared? There's a multitude of organisations here, all with differing guidance.

If there's a concern it should be reported up, that includes any weapons, dodgy gear etc, if someone who knows what they are looking at is involved it won't go any further, if they don't, what would you have them do?

If I'm looking at an Airsporter, why would I report it, unless of course it's being waved at me, if I'm looking at something that looks like a 1911 without any context it's a different kettle of fish. If I don't know anything about guns, they are all AK47's, just like all green military vehicles are tanks in the press.

Bottom line, keep your air guns out of sight and locked away if you aren't using them, there are few emergencies in life so serious you haven't got time to put your stuff away.
 
Lightning22 said:
You do understand that Avon and Somerset Police isn't the ambulance service or the hospital Trust whose documentation you shared? There's a multitude of organisations here, all with differing guidance.

If there's a concern it should be reported up, that includes any weapons, dodgy gear etc, if someone who knows what they are looking at is involved it won't go any further, if they don't, what would you have them do?

If I'm looking at an Airsporter, why would I report it, unless of course it's being waved at me, if I'm looking at something that looks like a 1911 without any context it's a different kettle of fish. If I don't know anything about guns, they are all AK47's, just like all green military vehicles are tanks in the press.

Bottom line, keep your air guns out of sight and locked away if you aren't using them, there are few emergencies in life so serious you haven't got time to put your stuff away.
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Please re read my posts. I am fully aware. At no point did I say A&S police was the ambulance service. I was referring about our personal experience of the attitudes of an NHS person in Gloucestershire, and you said the tech was talking out his *****. I know we, not the OP nor you, are Gloucestershire and the document is Avon & Somerset NHS. I will enquire with my friends in Gloucestershire NHS if their Security Policy/equivalent also covers firearms. As I said I had been shooting at my father’s property. He had MND and was suddenly taken unresponsive at the time. My first thought, funnily enough, did not involve moving the cased airgun out of the downstairs loo.

The A&S NHS Security Policy document refers to reporting to the police (last paragraph of text).
 
One of my customers had Airsoft guns in his bedroom, he had a gas engineer to service his boiler, after a few minutes he left, half hour later armed response outside his toor with a speaker, made him walk out arms in the air, nothing come of it , but he wasn't happy
 
Is this really a big deal?

A well meaning person reported a potential firearms issue
2 officers turned up to investigate, realised they were not qualified to determine conclusively if there was an issue
Left our man in peace
2 firearms officers turned up, quickly concluded there was no issue. Left

🤷‍♀️
 
Firstly, glad the OP had a good resolve
Secondly, which may or may not be relevant in terms of the policies discussed above.........

For many years, I worked as a social care assessor in a local Community Health and social care team.
One of my cases, involved a chap with dementia that had endured a traumatic over long stay, in a Somerset hospital. During this stay, he had become extremely afraid of folk in any kind of uniform, connecting it to him being forced to be away from home and not understanding why
I picked this case up, at the point of carer breakdown after discharge home.
A couple of visits, saw me putting a fair amount of support and equipment in place, including the local NHS rehab team.
My assessment, which was shared with the rehab team, made it very clear, that in no circumstances, should any staff attend in uniform

Now the old boy owned and shot pistols back in the day, and after the ban he'd had 2 of his most prized possessions (a Ruger Blackhawk and a S&W 586) deactivated and hung on the wall.
When I got involved, one of the few things that was important to him, were those pistols, which seemed the only things, that he could really connect to in any kind of meaningful way, so he often had them off the wall, to handle them. Again, all this was in my assessment.
As a shooter and one time pistol shooter, I immediately recognised the pistols, which formed a good talking point to engage the chap.

Anyway, some equipment was being delivered (a hospital bed as I remember) and the young rehab physio, dropped in at the same time. She must not have read all I'd written and turned up in uniform
I wasn't present but found out about it within about 30 minutes of the event

The guy was that afraid, he'd picked one of the deactivated pistols off the wall, pointed it at her, firing it, and marched her out of the house
The incident was immediately escalated to the Police

A call from the local Police, as the case worker, informed me that the ARV coppers, were on the way to the house, so I attended and met them outside.

They arrived in the black X5 and were gearing up, as I approached. After 10 minutes of explaining the situation, the ARV lads took off their body kit and donned fleeces.
They were extremely sensitive to the chap's condition, and behaved very considerately, only wanting to check the pistols were deactivated and the proper paperwork was in place (which I already knew it was).

The outcome was, and I think this is a great resolve, the bloke kept his pistols as long as they were secured to the wall. I helped his wife purchase the suitable wall fixings
The bloke passed away a few months after, due to his worsening condition, but did carry on being able to handle them, until he wasn't able to.

My colleague in the rehab team, will likely never get over what happened.

I'll add here, that out of a team of 13 workers, I was the only shooter. Anyone else attending this case, would have seen a very different outcome
In terms of timeline, this was approximately 2013. Very likely policies have changed so anything that looks like a gun, is reported immediately
 
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a0x4b said:
Is this really a big deal?

A well meaning person reported a potential firearms issue
2 officers turned up to investigate, realised they were not qualified to determine conclusively if there was an issue
Left our man in peace
2 firearms officers turned up, quickly concluded there was no issue. Left

🤷‍♀️
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I think the issue being discussed around this is that others many see any guns as a threat and may work in organisations where policy demands they report what they see

The biggest point to note here, is keep them out of sight
 
Ashf9999 said:
EDIT - Just found this for Great Western - it does confirm their policy of potentially informing police https://www.gwh.nhs.uk/media/wa5dv0wh/security-policy.pdf
Is Devon’s security policy different then?
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I'd imagine this is a nationwide policy now

At the time of the incident I was involved in, it may not have been, but I can't be sure as I worked for Social Services and not NHS.

I've also though, been involved in hospital discharges (again around the same time period) for 2 patients with dementia, who held firearms certificates. Again, this was revealed by my thorough assessment.
The hospital did seem to have no idea of the severity of this and seemed to have no procedure in place at the time.
I advised the families of both patients, about what they needed to do, in terms of letting Police know the situation, regarding the firearms.
Incidentally both families, thought they could just take the keys from the patients possession, so they were unable to access them
I guess at the time, the lack of mandatory firearms markers on patients records, helped in no way at all
 
Tricky-Dicky said:
Wokeness and two tier policing in action, we live in a broken country.
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We do, undoubtedly, but then, all too often, we hear 'He was such a nice chap, very polite, kept himself to himself', before going on to commit an atrocity of some kind. We also often hear of 'missed opportunities' after the event, i.e. the authorities were aware of X,Y,Z but didn't act...

In a situation like @P8X encountered, it's a lot more difficult as the chap possibly didn't have any family that regularly looked in on him, and there were mental health issues at play (some form of triggeer/PTSD triggered by the sight of a uniform) and of course, anyone would be fazed if someone in an agitated state charged at them with what looked like a live firearm.

My rifles are always out whilst I'm at home, as I love to tinker, swap scopes/stocks, clean, polish etc. When I go away, they're locked in the safe, and when anyone comes to visit, the door of that room is locked. On the rare occasion that a Tradesman requires access to that room (eg Boiler Engineer), the rifles and anything else suggesting that I 'shoot' are locked away out of sight.
 
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