The Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026 came into force on Tuesday 29 September in England, Scotland and Wales, adding standing medical reporting conditions to every firearm and shotgun certificate and replacing the application form with a revised Form 201. The Home Office has allowed a one-month transition: old-style applications are accepted until 29 October, after which only the revised form will be taken for grants and renewals. The rules were made under section 53 of the Firearms Act 1968 on 23 September and are set out in Home Office Circular 013/2026, published on the day they took effect.

For the registered dealer the change is indirect but immediate. Nothing in the rules alters the transaction at the counter, the entry on the certificate or the dealer’s notification duties. What changes is the customer base: every holder now carries new conditions, every applicant meets a new form, and the trade is where many of them will ask what it means.

What do the new conditions require of certificate holders?

For the five-year life of the certificate, a holder must tell their police force if they are diagnosed with or treated for a relevant medical condition, for which the Home Office gives depression and dementia as examples, or if an existing condition gets worse. They must also report any consultation about a relevant condition with a doctor outside their own GP practice, including online and private services. Until now, licensing relied heavily on the marker on a holder’s GP record, which a third-party consultation could bypass. The full list of relevant conditions is in the Guide on Firearms Licensing Law, updated in September.

What is on the revised Form 201, and when does the old form stop counting?

The revised Form 201 serves grants and renewals of both certificate types. It asks the applicant to declare every member of their household, including those under 18, and any second home where firearms will be stored. The Home Office says the household question will help police identify wider safety concerns, such as domestic abuse, while the second-home declaration allows a security check at the other address and notification of the force covering it.

The transition date is the practical point for the trade. Old-style applications are accepted for one month from 29 September; after 29 October only the revised Form 201 will be taken. A customer waiting on a grant or a variation, or a renewal due mid-season, needs to know which form went in and when. A completed old-style form still at home must reach the police by 29 October to count.

What should dealers tell customers?

Three things, and none of them is legal advice the counter should be giving in detail. First, that a sale on a current certificate proceeds exactly as before: the rules do not change what a holder may possess or how a purchase is entered. Second, that anyone applying or renewing from now on should use the revised Form 201, have the household details ready and declare any second address where a gun will be stored, with a cabinet there that will bear inspection. Third, that the medical conditions are now standing duties on the holder, and that the police have said how they intend to enforce them.

On that last point the trade can pass on the police’s own words. Police Scotland, in a notice circulated through the Scottish Association for Country Sports, said: “I want to reassure you that Police Scotland will take a pragmatic approach to these new conditions in order to avoid unnecessarily criminalising certificate holders.” Enforcement, it added, would be considered only where there is “clear evidence of intentional dishonesty and/or an attempt to undermine the requirements of the licensing process”. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) advice to forces in England and Wales is expected to align generally with that.

What have ministers, the police and the representative bodies said?

Sarah Jones, the policing minister, said: “Public safety must always come first when it comes to firearms licensing. The UK already has some of the strongest gun controls in the world, but these changes will strengthen safeguards further by closing loopholes and helping ensure firearms do not fall into the wrong hands.” Chief Constable David Gardner, the NPCC lead for firearms and explosives licensing, said: “It is important that police have access to all available information when assessing someone’s suitability to hold a firearms licence.”

The Countryside Alliance backed the changes as closing loopholes but renewed its case for a single, centralised licensing authority for England and Wales, arguing that the fragmented system of 43 forces is no longer fit for purpose. BASC said the same on 30 September. Bill Harriman, its director of firearms, said: “The real solution to improving public safety and efficiency is the position BASC has long advocated for – that is for firearms licensing in England and Wales to be removed from the current structure of 43 separate police forces and delivered through a dedicated national authority with common standards, clear accountability and appropriate resources.” For a trade that lives with 43 sets of processing times, that argument has a commercial edge as well as a public-safety one.

What happens next

The transition closes on 29 October. Dealers can expect a run of questions from renewing customers through October, and some confusion where applications were started on the wrong form. In Scotland, the Firearms Mental Health Awareness and Support Partnership is encouraging holders to disclose changes in their health early, and the trade there may find it useful to carry that message. This title will report any further Home Office guidance to the trade as it appears.

Useful links

Home Office – the announcement of the strengthened licensing rules

Home Office Circular 013/2026 – the changes in full

Scottish Association for Country Sports – the Police Scotland notice and the revised Form 201

BASC – the association’s response and its firearms advice

Countryside Alliance – the Alliance’s response to the new rules

Frequently asked questions

Do the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026 change the sale at the counter?

No. The rules add conditions to certificates and replace the application form. A sale on a valid certificate, the entry on it and the dealer’s notification proceed as before.

When does the old application form stop being accepted?

Old-style applications are accepted until 29 October 2026. After that only the revised Form 201, which asks about the applicant’s household and any second home where firearms are stored, will be taken for grants and renewals.

What should a dealer tell a customer who asks about the medical conditions?

That the duties sit on the holder for the life of the certificate, that a relevant diagnosis, a worsening condition or a consultation outside the holder’s own GP practice must be reported to the police, and that Police Scotland has promised a pragmatic approach with enforcement reserved for clear dishonesty.

Related articles

Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2025 now in force across GB – last year’s rules, and the pattern the 2026 set follows

Ensuring legal compliance in firearm and shotgun transactions – the counter’s duties, unchanged by the new rules

Firearms licensing: a system under strain but not beyond repair – the case for reform from inside the trade