The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Rockhopper wrote: My big worry is if they refuse to engage with the police due to their moral stance on firearms. Changing GP.s is not that simple, they have catchment areas and usually won’t accept new patients who don’t live within that area. In my case I’d actually have to move house to register with another doctor!

This is my concern as well, given that on reading the docs they conveniently seem to have glossed over that point and what will happen in such a situation....which is perhaps no surprise

Alan D wrote:Instead of this being a case of absolutely blinding common sense, simple form to fill out etc for a nominal fee, say £15 and standardised across the country...

You can guarantee this will be dragged out into a long series of meetings, while people try to justify their jobs..

Lots of walking about with clipboards, looking busy with red,green and blue pens in top pockets .... (Or whatever the modern version of this is) aaarggh

But underlying all that is the problem of accountability, no one is going to want to take on the responsibility of declaring someone fit to hold an fac , they’ll hung drawn and quartered by the press and public opinion if something went wrong. As a result the whole thing will get complicated and expensive as a system is devised that seems to do the job but leaves plenty of wriggle room. Though in effect the opinion will be just like an mot, meaning little once the notes have been put away.

There's a local doctor making a very nice side line with certificate medical forms. 15 minutes to look through your record, 15 minute chat, 5 minutes to fill in the blanks on a letter template, £120 please!

Every Wednesday after his surgery closes, the car park fills up with shooters!

Sim G wrote:There's a local doctor making a very nice side line with certificate medical forms. 15 minutes to look through your record, 15 minute chat, 5 minutes to fill in the blanks on a letter template, £120 please!

Every Wednesday after his surgery closes, the car park fills up with shooters!

Nice work if you can get it, whistling all the way to the bank....

The Home Office could easily make this a stipulation of a GP's NHS contact if they wanted to.

Simple government form, nominal fee, if the answer is yes to any of the questions, then it's a No to your FAC.

It can't be beyond the wit of man to organise this surely?

artiglio wrote:
But underlying all that is the problem of accountability, no one is going to want to take on the responsibility of declaring someone fit to hold an fac ,

That's not what the Drs are being asked to declare. The doctors are being asked if there is a medical reason why the candidate should possibly be looked at further.

Mattnall wrote:

artiglio wrote:
But underlying all that is the problem of accountability, no one is going to want to take on the responsibility of declaring someone fit to hold an fac ,

That's not what the Drs are being asked to declare. The doctors are being asked if there is a medical reason why the candidate should possibly be looked at further.

This is precisely the point, it's a simple evidential decision, based purely on your medical history....

It's hard to see what the issue is here really.
It should be the same as somones suitability to retain a driving licence.

Doctors pass on relavent medical information to the DVLA, what's the difference?

Alan D wrote:


It's hard to see what the issue is here really.
It should be the same as somones suitability to retain a driving licence.

Doctors pass on relavent medical information to the DVLA, what's the difference?

Not true really , they have no legal obligation to contact the DVLA .

"If you become aware that a patient is continuing to drive when they may not be fit to do so, you should make every reasonable effort to persuade them to stop. If you do not manage to persuade the patient to stop driving, or you discover that they are continuing to drive against your advice, you should consider whether the patient’s refusal to stop driving leaves others exposed to a risk of death or serious harm. If you believe that it does, you should contact the DVLA or DVA promptly and disclose any relevant medical information, in confidence, to the medical adviser."

It will make little difference in the court of public opinion how the assessment was done if things went wrong, the doctor in question is in for a hard time.
The.comparison with driving a car is pointless drivers as a whole don't want further restrictions on them and so weight of opinion wins.
There are around 180k disqualified drivers at any one time and their criminal car use kills around 120 people a year, so in terms of public safety it would make sense for driving whilst disqualified to be an automatic 5 year sentence. But despite the simple statistical evidence it'll never happen. Yet with say 540k fac holders it suggests the public would be happy with 360 deaths from legal firearms.
15 deaths a year directly linked to mobile phone use whilst driving, and who knows how many injuries, but no real interest in reducing those numbers.
All a part of societies values and attitude.