Last updated at 09:13, Thursday, 17 February 2011

CUMBRIA Police will not stop making home visits when gun owners apply to renew firearms licences, the force has confirmed.

A spokesman said they would continue with the visits, every five years, after at least three other forces said they aimed to abandon automatic home checks when gun owners apply to renew them, as part of cost-cutting measures.

Police in Essex, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire said ending the blanket home visits would save money and time but would not “impact on public safety”.

Essex Police said they planned to write to gun owners to check that circumstances had not changed since licences were issued, instead of visiting. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire said blanket home visits would be replaced by a “risk-assessed process”.

They said “a number of forces had already abandoned blanket home visits”.

All three forces said they would continue to make home visits when people applied for gun licences.

A spokesperson for Cumbria Police said: “Cumbria Constabulary is not changing its firearms licensing procedures.

“In line with national ACPO recommendations, the constabulary will continue to conduct home visits to all those renewing their firearms licenses. This occurs every five years. We also conduct home visits when license holders change address to ensure the guns are stored appropriately.”

First published at 15:56, Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk