Roadside Firearm checks by the Police

[artiglio]

Good evening ladies and gents,

Something that has occurred to me reading this thread and that by DM, when you travel to and stay overnight and your rifles are left in the car, what is seen to be acceptable measures.
Modern vehicles are reasonably secure and in most cases have alarms and immobilisers.
It would seem to be common sense to remove bolts and take them into your hotel, is ammunition best left in the car? Or taken into hotel as well, assuming there is a room safe, is ammo ok to be left in it if you are out of the room?
I've seen the brattonsound vehicle cabinets but one long enough to take a rifle will not fit in my car without folding down rear seats.
As with many situations you never really know if you're doing the right thing until it goes wrong.


Cheers phil

[Steve]

Cambridgeshire Police obviously use common sense because i've had the force chopper fly numerous times overhead and bloody low too so i would have been very much visible and never had a visit.I've removed guns from my car while they've driven past too and they've never stopped.

If im rough shooting i dont normally bother taking my licences because i dont want to loose them and they can soon check my details with a simple PNC check anyway.Never been stopped with guns in car anyway,but afore mentioned check is easy enough.

[douglas670]

Read tikkathreebarrels reply re photo copy and it gave me another thought.

not sure if Force wide, but when my certificate goes in for a renewal it is often around 4 months before the expiry date!!
i am always wary should i get stopped going to a shoot anytime during these months, also rather annoying as i cant purchase any ammunition during this time either.
another quick question- i am told if you have a variation/ or one for one and it reaches the expiry date you loose the authority?? this from the FEO, it would be annoying to say for example you had a one for one but didnt sell the rifle before the expiry date, would you have to either hand the rifle in or store it with an RFD?

[Porcupine]

I'm surprised no-one's said this yet as this is such a knowledgeable forum. Not only shouldn't you ever leave the home with a firearm and without your FAC, you should actually take a photocopy - rather than the original - on which your address details have been blanked out. Old Bill can access those details via your FAC number and his talking collar if he needs to. Should the copy fall into wrong hands you're not giving out information about the location of stored firearms and ammunition.

My FEO advised me not to do this because, as has been pointed out, the law requires you to produce your certificate, not a photocopy of it.