British gun laws under scrutiny

According to Home Office guidance, Bird's conviction for theft would only have to be "considered" and would not prohibit him entirely from possessing a firearm or shotgun.

The Criminal Justice Act says people sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three years or more should never be allowed to possess firearms, and those sentenced to over three months but less than three years must not possess firearms until five years have passed since release.

However there has been no suggestion that Bird served any time in prison at all.

Former head of Scotland Yard Sir ian Blair suggested policy-makers could spread the net of people consulted on the suitability of those who want to own lethal weapons.

The retired officer said having a firearm was a "privilege" and gun owners should be prepared to give up some privacy.

Sir Ian suggested that licences should be reviewed and more questions asked the longer they are held. He also believes the Government should widen the pool of people asked to provide references, and consider asking relatives, neighbours and workmates whether people are fit to hold a gun licence.

Campaign groups and charities pointed out that possession of a gun licence is common among those who carry out massacres.

The majority of high-profile mass shootings in the Western world have been perpetrated by licensed gun holders using licensed weapons.

Rebecca Peters, director of the International Action Network on Small Arms, said: "The idea that only 'bad guys' do things like this is false. People who are not career criminals can turn violent. Having weapons designed to kill people is dangerous.

"The gun lobby says legal gun holders are not a problem at all and what we have to worry about is career criminals.

"But these are not career criminals, they're normal people, so that's an argument for recognising that just checking someone's criminal background is not enough to prevent homicides."

Britain's firearms licensing system is already among the toughest in the world and licence holders have to provide reports from their doctor, disclose any criminal convictions and state why they want a gun.

There are applications to complete and interviews with the police or firearms licensing authority to undergo before a weapon can be acquired.

The process takes eight weeks to complete, yet despite the length of the procedure, nearly 600,000 people in the UK legally own a shotgun and just over 100,000 own a firearm.

Charity Infer Trust, which works to raise awareness of the dangers of guns, said there ought to be more transparency about who these people are.

Co-ordinator Chrissie Hall said: "The issue with registered owners who have gone on to commit massacres is neighbours don't know. Information about who's got a gun and where they are needs to be in the public domain."