Quote Originally Posted by BarnsleyBob View Post
I'm soon to be moving to Orkney, which obviously comes under the Scottish licensing laws for airguns.

I was just wondering if anyone else has done similar (moving from England) and if you obtained a visitor permit first or straight to full certificate. I previously held FAC here but gave it up in 2018 so just have legal limit airguns now. We will be renting initially so not sure if that will affect things, but I have found a club in Orkney which will cover the 'good reason' part.

I will be phoning Inverness licensing later but would still be interested to hear if anyone else has done this and how smoothly (or not) it went.

Cheers
Blackrider will be able to give advice as he moved up to Perth.

Plnking in the garden is also a good reason to own one too



Target Shooting: Air weapon users may undertake target shooting, whether formal or informal, on private land provided that this can be done safely and without danger to the public. The applicant should specify the land over which they intend to or have permission to shoot regularly, providing the full address of that land (though this does not restrict their ability to shoot elsewhere where permission is also given). The land need not be owned or rented by the applicant, nor need they have regular or automatic access to it. Farmers and landowners may, for example, allow air weapon owners to shoot on their land, on a formal or informal basis.

Whether the shooting takes place on open land, such as a farm or in woodland, or in a residential garden it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are in place to protect people and animals from harm. The applicant should therefore, at Part B of application form AWL1, provide sufficient detail about the arrangements in place to provide assurance to the Chief Constable that shooting may be undertaken safely. This may, for example, include details of precautions taken such as the erection of backstops or other measures to prevent or contain ricochets or missed shots.

"Plinking" is a term often used by those who use air weapons and refers to informal target shooting undertaken at standard or non-standard targets, such as cans and bottles, often in built-up areas. As above, where shooting is undertaken in a confined space, such as a domestic garden, it is incumbent on the shooter to consider if this can be done safely, and to provide evidence of this in support of their application. Shooting in areas to which the public have unrestricted access, such as communal gardens or similar areas is not acceptable.

It should be emphasised that land is not intrinsically "safe" or "unsafe" and any person using an air weapon should exercise discretion in deciding whether to shoot in particular circumstances. However, in considering whether a person has "good reason" to use an air weapon for target shooting, the police will wish to be satisfied that the applicant has considered and taken appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of others. While the police may, in a number of cases, wish to seek further information from the applicant, it is expected that most cases will be determined on the basis of a properly evidenced application. It is expected that a home or land visit will be deemed necessary only in a very small number of cases.

Many applicants may state that their reason for applying for a certificate is to target shoot at an air weapon club (whether or not this is an approved club under the terms of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2015). The applicant should normally provide evidence of membership of such a club.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/gu...land/pages/20/