CONCERNS have been raised about taxpayers subsidising the cost of applying for firearms certificates for gun enthusiasts and the rate at which applications are processed.

It has been revealed that certificate applications for firearms used for target shooting are subsidised by £50. The cost of issuing the certificates is thought to be about £90 a time although applicants only pay £40. Police Authority member Paul Deneen said: “Subsidising each of the firearms people by £50 a time is not a priority in terms of policing.

“I don’t think the council taxpayer should be subsidising anyone.”

The issue of firearms certificates was raised by David Stevens, president of the Herefordshire target shooting club, at a meeting of the authority.

He asked why renewals in Worcester and Malvern are currently taking up to 11 months to complete.

Members of gun clubs and sporting groups are required to renew their licences every five years and Mr Stevens said the process should take no more than four weeks.

He said that the delays are causing ill feeling among gun enthusiasts even though the police relied on the community for its co-operation.

The meeting was told that there are 400 firemarms certificates currently out of date and the renewal process took on average seven weeks.

Chief Constable David Shaw admitted that there had been some problems with renewals.

He said: “We’ve not been where we’ve wanted to be. The plan is by the end of March that we will have cut the waiting list down to two or three weeks for each application. We need to maintain the goodwill of members of the shooting fraternity.”

However, he said the force would not cut corners in checking each application.

The cost of licences are set by central government but Mr Shaw said the force would be asking if anything could be done nationally to change the situation.