Homeowners with gun licences could be encouraged to defend their communities in the event of a terror attack, according to a leading police chief.

Alison Hernandez, police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall, said shoot-to-kill powers could be granted in the event of 'extreme circumstances'.

Speaking on BBC Radio Cornwall yesterday, she said she would raise the idea with her force's chief constable but admitted the legal implications were complex.

Alison Hernandez, police and crime commissioner for Devon and Cornwall (left), raised prospect of legal gun owners fighting terrorists. But Paul Netherton, deputy chief constable for Devon and Cornwall Police (right), said he would not sanction move

Her comments suggest that farmers, firearms dealers and other licence holders could be used to defend remote areas from an attack by marauding gunmen.

There have been concerns that large parts of rural Britain are vulnerable to a terror attack due to a national shortage of elite police marksmen.

Last year, John Apter, head of the Hampshire Police Federation, said the nearest armed response team could be up to 70 miles away from some parts of the countryside.

Miss Hernandez made the suggestion in response to a call from an ex-firearms dealer from the town of Bude, in Cornwall.

He asked: 'If there should ever be a terrorist attack close to the town centre, what happens if people like I and others try to defend themselves using those guns?'

Miss Hernandez replied it was 'a very good question', adding: 'I'm just saying… let's officially have a look at that and see what would be the implications of it. Let's unpick it a little bit.'

She later said: 'We work with businesses to keep our communities safe. I'd really be interested in exploring that with the chief constable.'

Miss Hernandez added: 'I think the reality is... if your community was coming under attack, people would do all sorts of things to try to save their community without even thinking.

Miss Hernandez was quizzed by a legal gun dealer whether he would be allowed to shoot a terrorists in the midst of an attack. She replied: 'Let's have a look at that' (file image)

'Look at how some of the emergency services responded – some of the community responded – on the bridge in London.

'People will do incredible things without thinking [in order] to protect themselves and the community around them.'

The caller was then asked if they would be happy taking on a terrorist, to which they replied: 'Yes', which prompted Miss Hernandez to remark: 'She's not messing about. Don't go down to Bude.'

The presenter said he could not believe the chief constable would entertain the idea of the public defending themselves with firearms, to which she replied: 'I'm sure he wouldn't want to entertain it, but these are times that are challenging and I would like to have an official response on that myself.'

But last night, Paul Netherton, deputy chief constable for Devon and Cornwall Police, said only highly trained police firearms officers are capable of defending the public from an attack.

He said: 'Under no circumstances would we want members of the public to arm themselves with firearms, not least because officers responding would not know who the offenders were, and quite obviously they would not have the time to ask.

'Our message to the public is a simple one: to run, to hide and to tell. Having said that, I accept that British policing will require an uplift in resources in response to the unprecedented threats we are currently facing.

'This includes additional operational firearms capability as well as an investment in our local policing which does so much to identify and prevent people from committing terrorist acts.'

In January, Cornwall councillor Candy Atherton called on Miss Hernandez to quit, saying that a police investigation, the county's crime figures and failures to put plans in place during nearly nine months in office, made her position untenable.

But Miss Hernandez defended herself in the interview saying she had been elected to do a job and that she would continue with it.

In 2015 a total of 153,603 people had a licence to carry firearms.