Britain to look urgently at tightening private sales of firearms

20/3/2025 6:09

Britain will urgently look

at how to tighten regulations on the private sales of firearms,

interior minister Yvette Cooper said on Wednesday, reacting

after a 19-year-old was sentenced to at least 49 years in prison

for the murder of his family.



Nicholas Prosper pleaded guilty in February to murdering his

mother, brother and sister and also admitted purchasing a

shotgun illegally without a firearm certificate.



"This terrible case has exposed deep and longstanding

weaknesses in private firearms sales, and we are urgently

looking at how we can tighten these controls," Cooper said in a

statement following Prosper's sentencing on Wednesday.



Cooper did not expand on what actions the government would

take.



In Britain gun ownership is treated as a privilege, not a

right. Current laws require someone purchasing a firearm to have

a firearm certificate issued by the police.



When issuing such a certificate, police assess whether the

person poses a threat to public safety and has a good reason to

own a firearm.



Prosper, who forged his own firearms certificate, had

planned to carry out a mass shooting at a primary school in

Luton, a town northwest of London, where he and his siblings had

been pupils, according to written sentencing remarks.