Hello readers, I'm back!
It's been a ridculously busy 6 months (I've moved house 3 times since June!) And during that time I've not had much chance to get out and shoot, as some of you will have noticed from my social media. June - Oct last year I was out shooting around 2 - 3 times a week. This year I was lucky if I got out once a month.
Now as I prepare for Christmas; I finally have a chance to reflect on how hard and nerve wracking it was to do all of this moving around the country, whilst trying to stay on the right side of the law with my shotgun and rifle storage at the same time.
For professional shooters, who travel with their guns often, this might seem like a slightly amusing issue for me to have. But for someone like me who is a hobby shooter, and who had previously only spent a week away on the road with my firearms, this was a whole new situation to navigate. I was reading articles and trying to find information from every source I could find; from BASC and Shooting UK, to contacting my (original) local Firearms department in Norfolk and The Stalking Directory forum - which was not the best place to go as it's basically a platform for experiences and opinions rather than facts. I asked a couple of friends who also sometimes like to think they're experts - I even spoke to a Firearms Officer at The Game Fair. But every single place or person I went to gave me different advice. Seriously, every single one of them. Can you believe that??
So. Here's what I did, which was different to most of what I was told - but according to my current Firearms department, they're happy with it.
Month 1 - June, Norfolk to Devon.
The main 2 reasons for my move was firstly to escape a couple of psycho stalkers - one was my ex husband and one was someone who was in a position where they should have known better (I won't be going into either of those stories in more detail, but if you catch me over a beer at a shooting show in 2025 feel free to ask!) The second reason was to start a side hustle career of property development, which was my sons idea and a great one at that.
Not knowing yet where I wanted to buy my next property, I decided to take a month sabbatical in Devon, one of my favourite places to holiday, where I could spend some time bonding with my beautiful puppy, Rigby. It's only a month, I thought, so I don't want to pay to put my guns in storage, plus I might use them while in Devon. So I did my research (see above) and realised it was fine to travel with my guns as I usually would, even though it would be a longer 'trip'. I also found out that the firearms department only want to have your new address details when you have moved to the 'permanent' residence. Of course, it's great to email them to let them know your plans (I forgot to do this, oops sorry); but in terms of updating your license they only need your fulltime residence. So, off I went!
On landing at the Mole Valley Resort, I realised my tv wasn't working, so I called maintenance team. Whilst talking to the young lad I asked if he thought the landowners would let me do a bit of night rabbit shooting on the neighbouring golf course during my stay. He asked for my business card to hand to his boss the wonderful Andrew, who would get in touch to let me know. Andrew did get in touch, and lo and behold, it turned out they often hosted shooting events at the resort - so Andrew offered to keep my guns in their vault for the full length of my stay, and handed me the keys - result! Unfortunately the rabbit shooting was a no go (there weren't many about anyway) so I focused on puppy training.
Month 2 - July, Devon to Staffordshire
So, after buying my new house which was in a bad state of repair meaning I couldn't move straight in, it was onto the next location - a halfway home with my partner, who has a shotgun licence and a spare cabinet but no firearms licence. According to the lovely officer we spoke to at The Game Fair, I could store my rifle in my partner's spare cabinet as long as he didn't have access to the keys. So this is what I did. For 2 months.
What I didn't do was inform the Staffordshire firearms department that they were there - this is because the Derbyshire police department (where my new home was based), had told me to inform my old department (Norfolk), what was happening and that Norfolk would sort the rest. So I just did as I was told. Was it the right way to do it? I still don't know...
Month 3 & 4 - Aug to November, Staffordshire to Derbyshire
I moved into my new home in Derbyshire and chased my local department a total of 3 times over the course of 3 months to get my firearms officer to visit. I initially left my guns at my partner's house, as I still didn't feel that they could be secured safely at the new address. so now, I was living in one place and my guns in another! I was very nervous at this point and was wondering how it would affect my insurance too...
Finally after my 4th phone call in November, (and after my guns had been at the new address for 3 months) my local officer paid a visit. He was very thorough, (he did the old gun cabinet 'shake' test) and had some great stories to tell about the local area; but all I kept thinking was 'I can't believe it's taken this long' and 'I need to get more ammo soon...'
Month 6 and all is well......?
Now,it's December, I'm enjoying being in my lovely new home (it's going back on the market next month!) And I have managed to find local pigeon shooting. My doctor finally sent off my medical report - they tried to charge me £85 for the pleasure, but when I kicked up a stink they discounted it to £35 - tip for anyone else about to go through the same! And Derbyshire firearms department finally sent my certificates back - albeit with some additional non-existent guns on - so I'll be sending them straight back to them!
If you've had a similar - or completely different - experience moving house with firearms, please feel free to share in the comments below. I might be moving to a new county again in the next 6 months, so I'm preparing to do this all over again and want to do it right this time!
A lovely read. Like the tip on bartering at the doctors, will try that next time!