Spent conviction

I’m currently in the process of renewing my shotgun certificate and my local police force has asked me to keep samples of fired cases from my guns. Apparently, they want to be able to trace stolen guns used in crime. Is this a new legal requirement?

David says: No, but it’s not a bad idea in theory. Whenever a gun is fired, minute marks from the breech/bolt and/or chamber are left on the cartridge case. These can be analysed under a microscope by the National Ballistics Intelligence Service and used to identify guns fired by criminals. It’s your choice but if you do keep a fired case you need one from each barrel and they need to be clearly marked and kept away from other fired cases lest they get thrown away by mistake.