The Home Office has tightened firearms licensing rules from 29 September 2026, adding new disclosure duties for anyone applying for a firearm or shotgun certificate. The department said the changes are intended to give police a fuller picture of where firearms may be kept and whether there are safeguarding concerns linked to an applicant’s wider circumstances. Under the revised approach, applicants must declare any second home where firearms could also be stored. According to the Home Office, that will allow police to carry out appropriate security checks at each location and notify the relevant force where a second address falls outside the force handling the application.
Applications must also now include details of everyone living in the household. The Home Office said that requirement is designed to help licensing teams identify wider safety concerns, including risks associated with domestic abuse or mental wellbeing. In practical terms, the assessment moves beyond the named applicant and towards the domestic setting in which a firearm may be stored. For police, that should support more complete background checks. For applicants, it creates a clearer duty to disclose living arrangements at the point of application.
A further change applies throughout the five-year life of a firearm or shotgun certificate. Certificate holders must tell police if they are diagnosed with, or receive treatment for, a relevant medical condition, or if an existing condition worsens. The Home Office said the same duty applies where treatment or advice is sought from an online or private doctor rather than through a GP. The policy aim is to reduce the risk that licensing decisions are made using incomplete or out-of-date medical information.
The government is presenting the measures as part of a longer programme of firearms licensing reform rather than a stand-alone change. In its announcement, the Home Office linked the latest rules to lessons identified through coroners’ findings and to wider engagement with policing partners. The department said earlier steps have included statutory guidance for police, mandatory medical checks, new national training for forces and higher firearms licensing fees. Taken together, the changes point to a tighter administrative model in which suitability is reviewed through more regular and more detailed information flows.
Policing minister Sarah Jones said public safety must come first in firearms licensing and described the new rules as a way to close loopholes and reduce the risk of firearms falling into the wrong hands. The National Police Chiefs’ Council, through firearms and explosives licensing lead Chief Constable David Gardner, also backed the change and said fuller information would help forces assess whether a person remains suitable to hold a certificate. The government communication also noted that most lawful certificate holders understand the need for statutory controls. The combined support from ministers and operational policing places the measures firmly within routine licensing practice rather than as an exceptional or temporary safeguard.
The Home Office said it worked with policing partners, shooting organisations, health stakeholders and devolved administrations before bringing the rules into force. The announcement also included support from campaigner Emma Ambler, whose sister and nieces were killed in a firearms incident, as evidence that bereaved families have continued to press for stronger safeguards. That context matters because firearms licensing reform has often developed through incremental changes after case reviews and coroners’ concerns, rather than through a single overhaul of the system. The latest measures follow that pattern by tightening disclosure, storage oversight and ongoing monitoring.
There is a one-month transitional period beginning on 29 September 2026. During that period, applicants may still submit the existing forms, but from 29 October 2026 police will accept only the revised versions. For applicants, the immediate effect is procedural as well as regulatory: second addresses, household details and relevant medical reporting duties now need to be treated as standard parts of firearms compliance. For police forces, the short-term task will be to ensure forms, guidance and case-handling processes are aligned before the revised application deadline takes full effect.