No reply, what to do?

Hibrion

Hi guys, Had all three applications/renewals in the second week of August. Got three letters in October saying I'd have a decision by January 6th. I left it at that giving them the extra time thinking they must be under pressure.
Its now the 5th of January and no sign of anything in the post. If there is nothing there when I check tomorrow what should I do?
Do I ring and ask what has happened with the application or do I take it as a refusal and ring and ask why I have been refused???

Cass

My opinion would be to wait till tomorrow morning. If there is nothing in the post ring your local and talk to the FO. With the delay in postal services over the Christmas and New Year period there could be a delay in reaching you. Just ask him if he knows have your license applications been processed or are they processing them now. In other words check the status of the applications. You could be fretting unnecessarily.

Hope it works out for you.

Hibrion

Thanks Ezri. That sounds good, I don't want to go in all guns blazing, just want to know when I'll have my licenses; its not like I'm applying for anything restricted anyway.

murph226

Could just be the FAO at your local station is busy, I dropped in a new application and import/export applications before Christmas and my lad was up the walls.

He had over 400 of the new applications in front of him from my town alone, all of which have to be entered into the system manually before being sent off!

He showed me how slow the system was and in fairness I wouldnt fancy his job at all!

So it really depends on how many firearms are in your area and how many applications went in, also how good your local FAO is?

Credit where credits due my FAO is really helpfull and seems fairly knoledgeable on firearms related matters!

Like Ez said, if theres nothing in the post tomorrow call down and ask if he has any updates for you?

Rovi

As the previous posters have already said, this is almost certainly a bureaucratic/paperwork issue and will be easily cleared up by a phone call tomorrow.

However, there are potential legal consequences to all this, in that the 3 month evaluation period expires tomorrow, which technically would mean that you've been deemed 'denied' and are now entering your 1 month window of opportunity to pursue the matter in the District Court.

This is almost certainly NOT the intention of your Superintendent, but all the same, make sure you get a very strong assurance that this is indeed the case, ideally in writing.
At the very least, keep a detailed record of who you speak to and when, and what they say.


I'm sure it'll all be fine, but just in case...

riflehunter77

Id call in to them tomorrow and see have they had any word, I put my new applications in the first week of August and had no word for about 5 months even though I had gotten two letters from my super granting me permission for my mods. Called in and had a chat they were surprised I had not gotten my applications, they checked my pulse details and for some reason I was not even on the system. FO copied all my details had my permmision letters by the end of the week. FO was quite surpised as I was one of the first he put on the new system, he had rang me while he was inputting my details just to clarify something.

Hope it goes well for you and was something simple like mine,

clivej

I put in for 3 renewals at the same time, can't remember when but about the the start of September. The new system went Live on 13th of September.

The 308 license was in my hand for the 1 st November.
The 22lr sometime in December.
And I got the payment recieved letter for the 233 last week.

I had to phone up about the 223 application and the Super's secretary thought it had all gone through long before but after a quick check in the system she said it must have got held up somewhere. There was a clitch in the system, November I think, and a few application went into cyba-space (that's a place between here and nowhere) so she put it right and I got the letter to pay just before the Christmas holidays.

My advice is you should have made enquiries before now and to give a call to the Super's secretary or your FO to find out where you stane and whats going on.

Hibrion

Well its not looking good, apparently there is something wrong with my application, despite the fact that a check list was completed in the station and more supporting documents were sent in three months ago!
So I'm told the form might be being returned to me in the post or could have been sent out already... if I didn't ring (several times) i wouldn't know. All this only appearring now despite being the very first person to submit renewals in my (quite large) district.
This system is really beginning to annoy me!!!

Hibrion

Can anyone (maybe Rovi?) please point me in the direction of where it says that there is a 30 day period to lodge an appeal after a decision has not been reached therefore a refusal by default is what has happened by law?
I'm not getting any good of anyone and no one I've talked to seems to want to help me out really. I'm aware of my time limits and just want my licenses for three non restricted firearms.

rrpc

Hibrion wrote: »

Can anyone (maybe Rovi?) please point me in the direction of where it says that there is a 30 day period to lodge an appeal after a decision has not been reached therefore a refusal by default is what has happened by law?
I'm not getting any good of anyone and no one I've talked to seems to want to help me out really. I'm aware of my time limits and just want my licenses for three non restricted firearms.

Section 15A of the firearms act (I've snipped the irrelevant bits):

15A.—(1) An appeal may be made to the District Court by a person aggrieved by any of the following decisions made by an issuing person:
(a) to refuse to grant a firearms training certificate under section 2A of this Act;
(b) to refuse to grant or renew a firearm certificate under section 3 of this Act;
...
(h) to refuse to grant a licence under section 10A of this Act;
...
(2) An appeal shall be made within 30 days of receipt of notice of the decision
concerned.
(3) On the appeal the Court may—
(a) confirm the decision,
(b) adjourn the proceedings and direct the issuing person to reconsider the decision in the light of the appeal proceedings, or
(c) allow the appeal.
(4) Where the appeal is allowed, the issuing person shall give effect to the Court’s decision.
(5) For the purposes of this section—
(a) an issuing person—
(i) who is required under section 3(9), 4A(7) or 10(4F) to decide on an application within a specified period, and
(ii) who does not so decide, is deemed to have decided to refuse to grant the application,
(b) the applicant is deemed to have received notice of the decision on the expiration of that period, and
(c) as the case may be, section 3(10) does not apply in relation to the
application.

Section 3(9) & (10)

(9) A decision on an application for a firearm certificate or its renewal shall be given within 3 months from the date on which the applicant submitted a completed application form.
(10) Where the application is refused, the applicant shall be informed in writing of the refusal and the reason for it.

Hibrion

Thank you very much:) now all I have to do is figure out the best way to get my licenses.

Rovi

rrpc has pretty much nailed it on the relevant legislation.

In your case though, it's a bureaucratic/paperwork issue that SHOULD be fit to be sorted out without recourse to the courts.

Did you get any reassurance from the person you were talking to on the '3 months silence= refusal' thing?
If they're telling you that "it'll be grand", be sure to emphasise to them that you're very concerned about your position regarding the new legislation, and would like to get something in writing to ease your mind on the matter.

Are you a member of a club or shooting organisation? They'll be able to enquire through the FPU on your behalf..

Hibrion

Thanks for all your help lads. With a bit of help from the FPU I now I need a cert from a RFD stating that my semi auto has its piece of dowel in the tube:rolleyes: and can hold only three rounds. My two rifles are grand, they just couldn't read one of the farmers signatures, I even think I might have the go ahead for my moderators.
So heres hoping I can get to the dealers in the near future (anyone have a spare snow plow?) and I should have my licenses very soon.
Figures crossed!!!

Rovi

Sounds like it's getting sorted so, well done.

It's a pity though that you weren't made aware of this stuff BEFORE you found yourself trying to figure out the legal consequences of all that time passing by. :mad:

Hibrion

Tell me about it Rovi:rolleyes: It makes you wonder where I would be without boards and a bit of knowledge on the subject??? I'd still be waiting for a letter or a phone call.
Thanks for all the helpful info and guidance everyone.

jwshooter

im glad for you ,but its still not good enough

Hibrion

Your telling me JW! hopefully the next batch of licenses won't face AS many problems... I'm not optimistic however. Should be a laugh when I apply for a stalking rifle in the next few months tho:rolleyes: