I’m not sure whether this has been questioned earlier, but how on earth does someone who has been declared as being mental manage to obtain a firearms licence?
Someone, somewhere has some questions to answer.
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There is to be an independent police investigation into how this licence was granted - it would seem it might have been only last year that he obtained it.
It’s now being reported (yet to be verified?) that his mother voiced her concerns about his behaviour to social services, but nothing was done. If this is true, it pinpoints another failure on the part of S.S.
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@ruthio i,f they show violence Ruthio! Then the police will step in !!
The doctors never recommend sectioning!!
It’s like being on the magic roundabout??
Donkeyman! 
@Morticia But you have to be able to get get the misbehaving adult to see a doctor Morty?
You cannot force an adult to see a doctor?
As l said, they have to go of their own free will !!
Donkeyman!
Other than perhaps for farming, what possible reason might someone think anyone needs a gun?
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But what are they meant to do? that’s the question; after the sad event has happened lots of intervention before the event just another soul you cannot damn someone before they do anything. Thinking bad thoughts is not crime, but stopping someone acting on them is a fine line.
Not quite Judd, SS is working within the existing rules !
They cannot force themselves onto an adult unless they show violence!
Nor can the police!
Of course in this case, the violence happened with use of a firearm ??
The law is an ass!!
Donkeyman!
Reportedly, he had his fire arm licence annulled because he was involved in a violent incident a while back.
“The certificate and shotgun had been removed from him by police in December 2020 following an allegation of assault in September 2020, the watchdog said.” Consequently, his certificate and shotgun were returned to him in July this year. Something else to add to his seething resentment?
Probably because there are so many of them Pixie, but unfortunately only one of them actually carried out this terrible act. But how do you find the one?
I’m trying to think of an easy answer to the problem of firearms in this country, and it isn’t easy.
One solution would be to arm everybody, including the police of course. The immediate response is that “we don’t want to become like America”. Unfortunately, the detractors seem to be unaware of places like Switzerland where anyone may possess firearms, just like in America but without the constant shooting of everyone ad lib!
Another solution would be to completely ban all firearms (except for armed police and the armed services, of course). But then there would be objections from people such as farmers and gamekeepers and even members of gun clubs (which I believe can even include handguns); I was a member of a .22 rifle club a long time ago, but perhaps it isn’t as easy to join now. However, I don’t think that would be the answer to events like the recent Plymouth one: I could join a gun club, go through all the checks (I don’t have a police record) and eventually be granted membership and even be allowed to purchase my own firearm.
So I can’t see an easy, foolproof method of preventing the possession of firearms among the general public. To make matters worse, many examples of illegal possession of firearms exist among the criminal classes, so presumably they must be relatively easily obtainable.
From what I was reading in today’s Daily Fail, his life was one continual round of resentment about his continuing virginity. Why that should be the case, God only knows because he could quite easily have taken himself off to the nearest knocking shop and paid for a session, or even gone on holiday to Thailand and bought himself a girl for a week or two.
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Or even a rentboy or ladyboy.
@Dextrous63
I have said before in these kind of discussions that guns should not be allowed in private homes. If people want to shoot legitimately they should apply to a gun club and take part in the sport there after carful vetting .
Anyone else with a legitimate reason to need for a gun (like a farmer) should be licenced to own one that is kept under lock and key at a police station and only allowed out for a limited period.
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I get your point @Meg , but can understand that, at times a bit of speed might be of the essence, which might mean that driving to a police station, showing id, filling in forms etc etc might be problematic.
Given modern technology, a strong security cabinet on site, with cctv monitoring in and around it, coupled with 24/7 communication gizmos, and the cupboard only being unlocked electronically by the presiding off site officer, might be a slightly more realistic solution.
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I was shocked listening to Womans Hour some time ago to learn about a whole toxic sub culture of discontented males operating mainly on The Dark Web . Details here
These men prowl around social media looking for recruits and denigrate women in every way possible.
It still remains a mystery why anyone, other than eg farmers need to have a gun licence, and indeed maybe they don’t need a licence either if the sole access to a firearm is for a limited period for a specific purpose, subject to them having had shown they have had sufficient training in its usage.
I went to a gun club thingy a few years ago, since I didn’t fancy a pamper in a spa. I was lent a rifle to shoot with, shown some of the basics, and given things to fire at. At the end, I handed the rifle back and went home.
What other stuff do people do at gun clubs?
When I owned a .22 bolt action rifle (not an air rifle) many many years ago, I kept it in a locked wooden cupboard in my bedroom. A policeperson came initially to check it out and declared it quite suitable, despite it having only a small hasp and padlock which a thief could have prised open very easily.
How times have changed!
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For what purpose?