British police will be required to check the social media profiles of firearm license applicants under new rules This comes after a man shot dead five people in Plymouth in a rare British mass shooting LONDON: British police will be required to check the social media profiles of firearm license applicants under new rules following the Plymouth mass shooting in England, The Times newspaper reported. In the autumn, the British government will publish new statutory guidance outlining how police forces handle firearm license applications. It will include the requirement to check social media, the newspaper said. A man shot dead five people in the southern English city of Plymouth on Thursday in a rare British mass shooting. He then turned his gun on himself after killing the five victims. Britain"s police watchdog says it has launched an investigation into why a 22-year-old man on Thursday was given back his confiscated gun and gun license last month. Police have said Jake Davison killed his mother and four other people, including a 3-year-old girl, before taking his own life in the port city of Plymouth. It was Britain"s first mass shooting in over a decade. Firearm crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict gun control laws and regulations. The Independent Office for Police Conduct said late Friday it would investigate the Devon and Cornwall police department"s decision-making in relation to Davison"s possession of a shotgun and the license. The watchdog said it was not yet known whether the shotgun returned to Davison was the same one he used in Thursday’s shootings. Police took away the gun and the certificate in December 2020 following an allegation of assault three months earlier, the watchdog office said. They were returned to Davison last month. “We will examine what police actions were taken and when, the rationale behind police decision-making and whether relevant law, policy and procedures were followed concerning Mr. Davison’s possession of a shotgun," said the office"s regional director, David Ford.