Firearm Certificate Statistics, Scotland, 2012

2. Main Points

• There were 25,702 firearm certificates on issue at the end of 2012, the lowest number of firearm certificates on issue over the ten year period covered by this bulletin (Table 1 and Charts 1 and 2).
• The 25,702 firearm certificates on issue at the end of 2012 covered the possession of 72,005 firearms, the highest number of firearms held on certificate over the last ten years. This is an increase of 19% in the number of firearms held on certificate compared to 2003 (Table 1 and Chart 2).
• The average number of firearms held on each certificate issued has increased from 2.3 in 2003 to 2.8 in 2012 (Table 1).
• There were 48,168 shotgun certificates on issue at the end of 2012, the lowest number of shotgun certificates on issue over the ten year period covered by this bulletin (Table 5 and Charts 1 and 4).
• The 48,168 shotgun certificates on issue at the end of 2012 covered the possession of 141,569 shotguns, the highest number of shotguns held on certificate over the last ten years. This is an increase of 13% in the number of shotguns held on certificate compared to 2003 (Table 5 and Chart 4).
• The average number of shotguns held on each certificate issued has increased from 2.4 in 2003 to 2.9 in 2012 (Table 5).
• There were 353 registered firearm dealers in Scotland at the end of 2012. This is the highest number of registered dealers in the ten year period covered by this bulletin, an increase of 24% from the 284 registered dealers at the end of 2003 (Table 8).