I've recently discovered through my dad that my grandfather has a double barrel shotgun that has been in concealed his possession for apparently a long time, before the 1980s. He apparently never sold the gun away during the buy-back following the aftermath of 1996 and the licence had expired sometime before or after.
I don't think he possess any ammunition for the gun, but since it was from a time before 1996, it would be unregistered. It has been a close guarded secret for a long time, hidden in a cabinet. No one has ever been told of it except my father and recently myself.
My father was considering getting a licence so it could be retrieved and used at a shooting range, but it looks like a large risk since getting a shotgun out of "nowhere" would be very suspicious and could spell trouble.
Grandfather has recently been in poor health and could possibly pass on if he isn't careful (being the heavy smoker, drinker and gambler he was), meaning a potential liability should his possessions be passed onto our family/ies.
We want to avoid having to hand it in or destroy it since it is Grandfather's and it would be a shame but we don't have a gun safe or any licencing to be able to take it into our home (or not yet at least).
Is there a way of getting it off of him without a penalty on either party (or waiting for the post mortem) under Criminal Law? Could it be stored at a gun club/ secure facility of sorts?
I don't think he possess any ammunition for the gun, but since it was from a time before 1996, it would be unregistered. It has been a close guarded secret for a long time, hidden in a cabinet. No one has ever been told of it except my father and recently myself.
My father was considering getting a licence so it could be retrieved and used at a shooting range, but it looks like a large risk since getting a shotgun out of "nowhere" would be very suspicious and could spell trouble.
Grandfather has recently been in poor health and could possibly pass on if he isn't careful (being the heavy smoker, drinker and gambler he was), meaning a potential liability should his possessions be passed onto our family/ies.
We want to avoid having to hand it in or destroy it since it is Grandfather's and it would be a shame but we don't have a gun safe or any licencing to be able to take it into our home (or not yet at least).
Is there a way of getting it off of him without a penalty on either party (or waiting for the post mortem) under Criminal Law? Could it be stored at a gun club/ secure facility of sorts?
