The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Firearm statistics for 2004

19/05/2005

New figures published today show that there was a slight increase in the number of firearm certificates and a small decrease in the number of shotgun certificates on issue at the end of last year.

The annual firearm certificates statistical bulletin shows that there were 26,897 firearm certificates on issue at the end of 2004 - an increase of 292 or one per cent on the previous year. There were 52,409 shot gun certificates on issue at December 31, 2004 - a decrease of 12 certificates on the previous year.

Other main findings include:

• In 2004, there were 1,098 applications for new firearms certificates - up six per cent compared with 2003. While the number of cancellations of certificates rose by 18 per cent, there were more applications than cancellations, resulting in an increase in the number of certificates on issue.
• In 2004, 766 firearm certificates were renewed - up four per cent compared with 2003 (see note 3 in Notes to Editors), and three renewal applications were refused.
• More than a quarter of all firearms certificates on issue were in the Northern police force area, while Grampian and Strathclyde jointly accounted for around a third of the total.
• The 26,897 firearm certificates on issue covered the possession of 63,115 firearms. This represents a four per cent increase on the number of firearms in 2003. The average number of firearms possessed on each certificate remained at 2.3.
• The number of airweapons held on certificate grew significantly compared to 2003. The number of air rifles possessed or authorised for purchase increased from 253 to 354 - up 40 per cent, while the total number of handguns grew from 29 to 306 - a 10-fold increase. This is believed to be due to new legal provisions which require all airweapons with a self-contained gas cartridge to be licensed. However, the vast majority of airweapons currently do not require to be licensed.
• There were 1400 applications for a new shot gun certificate - a decrease of 256, or 15 per cent, compared with 2003. There were 1,369 successful applications in 2004, slightly less than the number of cancellations.
• 1,426 shot gun certificates were renewed in 2004 - an increase of 17 per cent compared with 1,221 renewals in 2003 (see note 3 in Notes to Editors). Two renewal applications were refused.
• Strathclyde, Grampian and Northern police force areas jointly accounted for more than half of all shot gun certificates on issue at the end of 2004.
• The number of firearm and shot gun certificates on issue per head of population was highest in the Northern police force area and lowest in Strathclyde.
• The 52,409 shot gun certificates on issue covered the possession of 129,218 shot guns, a three per cent increase compared with 2003.

Since 1997, various changes have been made to firearms legislation to enhance public safety.

Under the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 and Firearms (Amendment) (No.2) Act 1997, all pistols - otherwise referred to as handguns - were banned. The Firearms Amendment Act 1997 provided special exemptions from prohibition for slaughtering instruments, and certain firearms used at athletics meeting, for the humane killing of animals, trophies of war etc.

Since January 20, 2004, there has been a ban on the sale, manufacture and import of self contained gas cartridge (SCGC) airweapons. Individuals who held such weapons had until April 30 2004 to surrender them to the police or apply for a licence. This has significantly increased the number of airweapons possessed on certificate compared to previous years.

Regulatory changes relating to the length of time for which firearms or shot gun certificates are valid came into force from January 1, 1995, increasing the period of certification from three to five years. This effectively meant there were no applications for certificate renewals during 1998 and 1999.

This has also had the knock-on effect that only those certificates which were newly applied for in 1999 required renewal in 2004. This meant the number of renewals for firearm and shot gun certificates were very low last year, as were the number of cancellations.

Tayside's figures for renewals of firearm and shotgun certificates for 2003 were erroneous. Firearms certificates renewals are estimated to have been 155, rather than the 954 originally reported (making total 2003 renewals 737 rather than 1,536). Shot gun certificate renewals are estimated to have been 285 rather than 1,866 (making total 2003 renewals 1,221 rather than 2,802).