Deathly gifts

The uncle of a friend has recently died.

While clearing his house the family came across a war time service revolver and a nice English boxlock shotgun, which he has handed over to the police. He would like to transfer the shotgun to his own certificate. Are the police amenable to doing something like this?

David says: Technically the owners of the shotgun are the executors of the uncle’s estate. It is up to them what happens to it. If they wish to transfer it to your friend, who I presume already has a certificate, they should tell the police to hand it over to him.

While the executors acted correctly in surrendering the revolver they would have done better to get a temporary permit (Section 7), which would have enabled them to dispose of the shotgun without it ever going near the police.