From: Peter H Jackson, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Got to agree with Steve and Jonathan here.
>
>If you don't have a valid FAC in your possession then
>you commit an offence - absolute, no defence in law. The
>fact that you have applied for renewal of the FAC and
>been assured of it's issue by the police is a mitigation
>not a defence.
That would be a matter of fact for a jury to consider. In the
circumstances as described I believe they would decide that the
new certificate was in force. Certainly, if your fee cheque has
been cashed you have a certificate in force. The fee is payable
for the NEW CERTIFICATE, not for an application or for a refusal
to renew.
I smile when people say this or that is an absolute offence.
There is nearly always a line of defence if you are prepared to
think about it. NEVER PLEAD GUILTY. Until Mr Blair succeeds in
bulldozing his abolition of the right to a jury trial through the
House of Lords, all Englishmen are innocent until a jury decides
otherwise.
>Do you trust your local Police?
In this respect, and in this police area, yes.
>Even if you do its safest to follow advice and ask for a
>Section 7 permit or lodge the guns and ammunition with an
>RFD.
Do as you please, but if your local police say it is OK, and if
you confirm that in a recorded delivery letter to your Chief
Constable, with a copy to your MP, you are in the clear and you
save your local licensing department a little time. Bear in mind
that the more unnecessary work we create for the police the
higher they must push the fees under the doctrine of full cost
recovery.
Rgds,
Peter.
www.jacksonrifles.com
--
Section 7 permits take about five minutes to do, I got
one off West Midlands Police the next day after they told me
the afternoon before they would issue me one. I don't
know what time their post goes but it couldn't have been
very hard to do it. It's only a piece of paper with
a list of your stuff on it.
Whether or not a jury would convict you or not is absolutely
not the point, it's the hassle you would be put through.
Say you live in D&G and you want to go to a competition
at Bisley. Somewhere on the M25 you get pulled over and
the police demand to see your certificate. You haven't
got one so they sieze your guns. At a minimum, you have
to travel all the way back down there to pick the things
up.
D&G are already artificially forcing their costs up by
interviewing the referees which is not what the guidance
says (in E&W at least), that is probably why they are
late on the renewal. So actually, if they were forced
to follow the guidance the costs would be less, not more.
_They're_ the ones causing unnecessary work, not us.
We can't say on the one hand that CSP are negligent for
sloppy practices and then on the other say that it's
okay for D&G to be sloppy.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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