The House of Lords votes to remove sound moderators from Section 1

Finally! Some common sense has actually been used in the corridors of power. We’re still pinching ourselves.

If you’ve spent any time at the ground lately, you’ll know the collective groan that goes up whenever someone mentions moderators. We’ve all been there. You find the perfect bit of engineered kit, you’ve got the funds ready – and then you wait. The endless back-and-forth with licensing, the variation fees and that frustrating period spent staring at an empty spot in the cabinet while the paperwork’s processed.

When The House of Lords accepted a Government amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill on 25 February, the path was clear for sound moderators and flash hiders to be booted out of Section 1 licensing in England, Wales and Scotland. It was a unanimous, cross-party vote.

Imagine that: politicians actually agreeing that a metal tube isn’t a sentient threat to society. Lord Katz even called them “entirely inert objects.” Spot on your Lordship.

While shooters still need a valid certificate to possess a moderator, they won’t need to be individually licensed. So this is a massive win for us.

Years of campaigning by the likes of BASC and the Countryside Alliance has finally paid off and we couldn’t be happier.

But let’s be real. The biggest winners here, aside from our wallets, are the licensing departments.

BASC estimates this could cut their administrative workload by around a third. Maybe now we won’t have to send a search party out just to get a renewal back before the old one expires. We can dream.

Bill Harriman from BASC called it “meaningful progress,” and we couldn’t agree more.

The atmosphere at the clubhouse this weekend was buzzing because of this news.

It’s these little wins that make the social side of the sport so much better. Less time worrying about the red tape means more time for the good stuff. Like me, for instance, finally having one less excuse for why I clipped the frame instead of dusting the target. Sadly “the balance was off because of the moderator paperwork weight” won’t fly anymore. I’ll just have to admit my grouping was more ‘shotgun pattern’ than ‘precision rifle’ because I was chatting too much about the news.

We’re a community that thrives on the crackle of the range and the banter in the clubhouse. While we wait for the Home Secretary to confirm a date for the Bill to receive Royal Assent, likely before mid-May 2026, this change makes our lives easier and our sport more accessible.

Which is why we’re so delighted.