MP wins backing for tightening of gun laws
THE Government is to directly link the granting and holding of gun licences to applicants’ medical records, in a move following the mass shootings in Plymouth in August last year.
Labour MP Luke Pollard said yesterday that, a month after he presented what he hopes will become “Keyham’s Law” in a Ten Minute Rule Bill to Parliament, the Government has confirmed they are making progress on one of his key aims. It would ensure an applicants’ detailed medical history will be taken into account before a gun licence is issued and could be revoked if their medical condition changed.
The undertaking came in answers to Written Parliamentary Questions from Mr Pollard, the MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport – which includes Keyham, where the killings took place.
The Government has also confirmed that progress is being made in linking IT systems used by GPs and primary care providers to enable this to happen.
The call to link gun licences to medical records comes after five people were shot and killed in Keyham last August by Jake Davison, who had a legally held pump-action shotgun. Davison – who had the gun returned to him by Devon and Cornwall Police after it had been taken away following an allegation of assault – then turned the firearm on himself.
Since the shootings, Mr Pollard has been leading calls for a tightening of the law around gun ownership, meeting with ministers alongside community representatives, the victims and their families to ask for urgent action.
In answer to Mr Pollard’s Parliamentary questions, health minister Maria Caulfield confirmed officially for the first time that “the Department is working with the Home Office and NHS Digital to develop a national firearms digital marker for use within general practice.” It is hoped that these markers would stop those who could be a danger with a weapon from holding one.
This was backed up in an answer from another Parliamentary question, when Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said that “the marker helps with monitoring of firearms certificate holders by alerting GPs to advise the police if there are any changes in relevant medical conditions” so that “the police force can assess whether a person remains suitable to possess a firearm certificate”.
Earlier this month, Mr Pollard presented a bill to Parliament that aims to restrict the keeping of pump-action shotguns in homes, and to link medical records with gun certificates, known as Keyham’s Law.
Luke Pollard said: “This is a huge step forward in our campaign to get gun licenses and medical records linked. When I met with the minister alongside the families of the victims from Keyham, he was very positive about making this happen. This is the first time we’ve had confirmation of this in black and white.
“No one experiencing a mental health crisis should have access to a firearm for the protection of themselves and other people. Linking medical records and gun certificates will help alert authorities to review their suitability to keep a gun if someone presents with a mental health problem. It is a step forward to stopping another incident like the Keyham shooting ever happening again.”