Britain to look urgently at tightening private sales of firearms

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.