UK Firearms Rules 2026 Add Medical Reporting Duties
A new Home Office statutory instrument will change the rules for firearm and shotgun certificates from 29 September 2026. Signed by Minister of State Sarah Jones on 23 September and published on legislation.gov.uk, the Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2026 apply in England and Wales and in Scotland. If you do not spend your spare time reading statutory instruments, that is completely normal. The practical point is simple: this legal update adds new medical reporting duties for certificate holders and swaps in new official forms.
It helps to pause on the phrase statutory instrument, because this is where many readers get lost. A statutory instrument is a form of secondary legislation. In plain English, Parliament has already passed the main law, and ministers then use powers in that law to update the detail. In this case, the Home Office is using powers in the Firearms Act 1968 to amend the Firearms Rules 1998. That means this is not a brand-new firearms law from scratch. It is a rule change inside the existing licensing system, which matters because small wording changes here can create real legal duties for people who hold certificates.
The first change is an ongoing duty to tell police about certain medical developments after a certificate has been granted. The Rules add a condition to firearm certificates and shotgun certificates saying the holder must, without undue delay, inform the police force that granted the certificate if they are diagnosed with a relevant medical condition, treated for one, or if previously disclosed symptoms get worse. **What this means:** the medical questions do not end once the certificate arrives. Under these amended rules, the duty continues during the life of the certificate, and the trigger is not only a new diagnosis. Treatment and worsening symptoms can matter too.
The second change goes further than many readers may expect. If a certificate holder sees a medical practitioner outside their own GP practice about a relevant medical condition, they must also tell the police without undue delay. They must give contact details for that practitioner and details of the treatment received. This is important because it places more responsibility on the certificate holder to keep the police updated, even when care happens beyond the usual GP route. For some people, that will feel like a paperwork issue. For others, it raises bigger questions about privacy, health information and how licensing checks work in practice.
One detail needs careful reading. The explanatory note on legislation.gov.uk says a relevant medical condition is one listed in the Medical Information section of the new application form in Schedule 1. In other words, the note itself does not spell out the full list in the excerpt above; it points readers to the updated form. That is a useful lesson in how secondary legislation often works. The legal duty may be short, but you sometimes need to read the attached schedules and forms to understand what the duty actually covers. If you are explaining this to students or first-time readers, that is one of the most helpful takeaways in the whole document.
The Rules also replace the form used to apply for or renew a firearm or shotgun certificate, and they replace the certificate formats themselves. That sounds administrative, but it matters because the new form is where the medical reporting set-up is spelled out more clearly. There is a short transition period. If an application using the old form is received by the relevant chief officer of police on or before 29 October 2026, it can still be processed. After that, applicants should expect the updated form to be the normal route.
The government says no full impact assessment has been produced because no, or no significant, effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is expected. That is the official Whitehall view. For individual certificate holders, though, there is still a clear day-to-day effect: more ongoing reporting, more need to keep records, and less room to assume that medical changes can simply wait until the next renewal. **What it means in practice:** from 29 September 2026, this is law rather than guidance. If you hold a firearm or shotgun certificate in England, Wales or Scotland, you need to know whether a health issue falls within the relevant medical conditions listed on the form, and you need to act promptly if a diagnosis, treatment, worsening symptoms or a non-GP consultation brings the reporting duty into play.