The National Police Chiefs Council has admitted that despite the public backlash over its discredited “shop-a-gun-owner” hotline, which was abruptly dropped last year, it will be relaunched under a new name.

The NPCC is the rebranded Association of Chief Police Officers, which was formally shut down on the orders of Home Secretary Theresa May. The NPCC continues to operate in much the same way that ACPO did.

In the minutes from this February’s meeting, ACPO Firearms and Explosives Licensing Working Group (FELWG) chair, Chief Constable Andy Marsh, stated he would attempt to re-launch the hotline.

The original hotline launch took the licensed firearms community by surprise, as the police chose not to tell anyone of their plans before announcing it in a publicity drive which encouraged the general public to inform on shooters, in a move clearly designed to stigmatise licensed firearms owners. This prompted a massive public backlash led…