Quote Originally Posted by SoldierMan View Post
Welcome.

Quick question. How arduous is the process in the UK to get a license to hunt? How many handguns/rifles can you own?
Hi, sorry, only just saw this....

There is no licence to hunt as such. When you apply for your FAC, you have to give a reason as to why you want a firearm. In most cases that involves a shotgun for clay shooting etc and if you are in a club, there shouldn't be a problem.
With my rifles, and the fact I wasn't in a club, I needed to provide written permission from the landowner (farmer) that I could shoot over his land, and, give a reason for that. In my case the reason was agricultural pest control.
The police then contact the landowner for confirmation, and after checking I'm not a lunatic, process the certificate.
This happens for each firearm you want to buy.

Technically, there's no real limit to the number of firearms you can own, but in practice, the authorities don't like the idea of someone with an arsenal, and they usually draw the line at three to four calibres/weapons, which pretty much covers anything that can be shot in the UK anyway.

Handguns were banned in 1997 after the Dunblane shootings in 1996......don't get me started on that!

FAC's are reviewable every five years by the police, and there's usually no problem with a review once you have jumped through all the initial hoops.