Frome & District Pistol Club Limited
Home Office Approval
The club is a "Home Office Approved" shooting club. This allows us to obtain a club FAC and thus members can shoot certain club firearms without their own individual FAC. NOTE : LBR's, LBP's and Section 1 shotguns do NOT fall under this exemption; members must have an entry on their personal FAC's to acquire and shoot these categories of firearms.
Approved clubs (From Home Office Guidance)
Under section 44 of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997, a person wishing to possess a rifle or muzzle-loading pistol solely for target shooting must be a member of an approved rifle club or, as the case may be, approved muzzle-loading pistol club. Section 44(1)(b) requires an approved club to be specified on the firearm certificate. The certificate does not have to list all clubs of which the holder is a member.
Any rifle, miniature rifle or muzzle-loading pistol club can apply to the relevant Secretary of State (i.e. the Home Secretary for clubs in England and Wales or the Secretary of State for Scotland for clubs in Scotland) for approval. Approval is granted under section 15(1) of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (as amended by section 45 of the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997).
When the Secretary of State has approved a club under the Act, members of that club can possess firearms and ammunition without holding a personal firearm certificate "when engaged as a member of the club in connection with target shooting" (Section 15(1) of the 1988 Act as amended by section 45 of the 1997 Act).
Approval also allows the police to grant a free firearm certificate to a responsible officer of the club to enable him or her to purchase and acquire firearms and ammunition for members to use for target shooting. Club members may not purchase or acquire firearms or ammunition unless they have been granted a personal firearm certificate by the police.
The current Home Office guidlines can be viewed on our Services page, FAC's and the Law.