Rejected, Closed, Cancelled

Most shooters assume that if their firearms application doesn’t proceed, it’s because the police have formally refused it. In reality, thousands of applications every year never reach that stage at all. They are quietly “cancelled”, “rejected”, or “closed” long before any lawful decision is made and because cancellations are not a statutory outcome, they are not reported to the Home Office, not included in national statistics, and not monitored by any oversight body.

The result is a hidden postcode lottery where some forces cancel hundreds of applications a year, others cancel almost none, and applicants are left with no appeal rights, no scrutiny, and no explanation.