NGO Supports Fair Firearms Fees

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The National Gamekeepers' Organisation is supporting the first increase in firearms fees for 13 years, proposed today by the Home Office in a public consultation document.

The proposed new rates (Firearms Grant �88, Renewal �62 and Shotgun Grant �79.50, Renewal �49) were worked out by a Home Office working group in which the NGO played an active part. They are based on the actual costs of running the incoming 'eCommerce' licensing system and they are about the same as inflation since the last rise in 2001.

An NGO Spokesman said, "These proposals are considerably less that the swingeing increases proposed last year by the police, which we strongly opposed. We believe they are based on the true costs of eCommece and will encourage the police to run licensing more efficiently in future. It will be good to get the new fees in place before the General Election and we urge our members to support them."

Labour recently proposed quadrupling firearms fees to nearly �200 for a Shotgun Grant.