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2. Main Points
- There were 26,538 firearm certificates on issue at the end of 2005, a decrease of 1 per cent on the previous year, reverting to the pattern of declining numbers that held between 1996 and 2002.
- In 2005, there were 1,089 applications for new firearms certificates, a decrease of 1 per cent when compared with 2004. The number of cancellations rose by over 100 per cent, outnumbering new applications in 2005 (see Introduction, and Annex Notes 2 and 11).
- In 2005, 6,266 firearm certificates were renewed, over 7 times as many as in 2004 (see Introduction, and Annex Notes 2 and 11), and 6 applications for renewal were refused.
- Over a quarter of all firearms certificates on issue were in the Northern police force area, while Grampian and Strathclyde jointly accounted for nearly a third of the total.
- The 26,538 firearm certificates on issue at December 31 2005 covered the possession of 63,710 firearms. This represents a 1 per cent increase on the number of firearms in 2004 and the average number of firearms possessed on each certificate rose slightly to 2.4.
- There were 51,110 shot gun certificates on issue at the end of 2005, a decrease of 2 per cent on the previous year.
- The number of applications for a new shot gun certificate was 1,826 in 2005, up 30 per cent on the number recorded in 2004. There were, however, fewer successful applications in 2005 than the number of cancellations.
- There were 13,134 renewed shot gun certificates in 2005, over 8 times as many as in 2004 (see Introduction, and Annex Notes 2 and 11), with 8 applications for renewal being refused.
- The 51,110 shot gun certificates on issue covered the possession of 130,140 shot guns, an increase of 1 per cent compared to 2004. The average number of shot guns possessed on each certificate remained at 2.5.
- Strathclyde, Grampian and Northern police force areas jointly accounted for more than half of all shot gun certificates on issue at the end of 2005.
- 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.
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