British gun laws were under scrutiny today as it emerged that Derrick Bird was a licensed shotgun owner with a previous criminal conviction.
The taxi driver, who was convicted of theft in the 1990s, acquired the licence in 1995 and had also held a firearms licence for a .22 rifle since 2007.
Police have confirmed that these licences covered the two weapons recovered yesterday.
According to Home Office guidance, Bird’s conviction for theft would only have to be “considered” and would not prohibit him entirely from possessing a firearm or shotgun.
The Criminal Justice Act sets out restrictions on the possession of firearms by people with criminal convictions, stating that those sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three years or more are never allowed to possess firearms, and those sentenced to a term of imprisonment for three months or more but less than
three years must not possess firearms until five years have passed since the date of release.
However there has been no suggestion that Bird served any time in prison.
Politicians said changes to gun laws should not be rushed into. Prime minister David Cameron cautioned against “knee-jerk” demands for a toughening of the laws, while home secretary Theresa May said the Government would “consider all the options” but not until the full facts of the case were known.
“Undoubtedly yesterday’s killings will prompt a debate about our country’s gun laws,” she said. “That is understandable and indeed it is right and proper, but it would be wrong to react before we know the full facts.
“When there are lessons to be learned, we will learn them, and when there are changes to be made, we will make them.”
Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson told BBC News that the gun issue should be dealt with in a “calm and rational way”. The key question, he said, was about whether someone was in a fit mental state to have a weapon.
Imposing too strict rules on gun clubs could end up in effect banning shooting as a sport, he added.
Britain’s firearms licensing system is already among the toughest in the world, and licence holders have to provide reports from their doctor, disclose any criminal convictions and state why they want a gun.
There are applications to complete and interviews with the police or firearms licensing authority to undergo before a weapon can be acquired. The process takes eight weeks on average to complete.
Despite the length of the procedure, nearly 600,000 people in the UK legally own a shotgun and just over 100,000 own a firearm.
PA