Cartridges and the law

[robbiep]

It's not just your average PC that doesn't know the law.

 

I've personally had experience of FEOs not knowing the law :

 

Point 1 : "you can't shoot if you're within 50 yards of a footpath, bridleway, road, etc"

 

Point 2 : (at a renewal visit at home, checking certificate numbers). Background is that I keep a few cartridges on top of the gun cabinet for convenience) "I'm not happy about that, it'll be going on the notes with a view to revoke. Lack of secure storage".

 

In both cases, only when I absolutely refused to accept his (wrong) ignorance of the law did he back down. In the footpath/road case, that actually involved me pulling up the law on my computer for him to read ! In the second case, I insisted on him contacting his manager immediately before he put anything on his notes. I pointed out to him that if my tickets were wrongly revoked I'd be happy to see him personally in a courtroom defending his actions.

[motty]

That's not very good, is it? How can someone be sent out to do a job with only half of the information.>> how can they think that it is illegal to be in possession and get to the point of arresting someone and dragging them in to the station and yet not know that no offence has occurred? This happened to a friend of mine only a couple of years ago. He had gone into a Pub for the after shoot dinner and had left a slab on the back seat of the vehicle. Unbeknown to him they had been a previous disturbance at the pub and the police have been called to deal with it. By the time they got there it was all over and done with and the people has gone away. The offices noted the cartridges in the vehicle and tried to arrest my friend for having and leaving the cartridges in an unsecured place. The officers were really rampant about it and the shoot captain rang the law and made the officers talk to whoever at the station about it. Because they had the attitude that they were right and were going to do what they were going to do. They had to back off and looked a bit stupid over their behaviour. Not very professional was it. If it had happened to me I would have written a letter to the chief constable asking why it was that these officers acted in the way that they did with no knowledge of what they were doing or trying to arrest people who hadn't committed any offence. And there are a lot more financial cuts to be made so there will be even less training available.

I've found the arrogance of many police officers to be staggering. I think the 'power' they believe they have is why they joined the force in the first place.

[fortune]

Posts #26 & #27 are both spot on. Considering they are supposed to be a professional service and know what they are doing it is a astounding the tripe and drivel that some of them have come out with. These are some of the cranky things that have been said to me. One of them said 22 centre fire is that one of those Hornet things. Another one said that every time I reload ammunition that I had to enter it on my certificate because I could not account where the ammunition had come from. That I had to keep all of the primers from:the reloading to prove that I was actually reloading. That I should keep a notebook and enter the amount of ammunition Reloaded and what day that it was Reloaded and what calibres. I said to him that it was a complete waste of time because I could insert anything that my heart desired I could enter that I'd Reloaded 20 rounds of all calibres everyday of she week for 5 years he didn't know what to make up an answer about that. Another comment was that I've got too many guns I told him that you only need one and that you wouldn't go out to mean harm with a single shot 22 bolt action when you've got an eight shot pump action available. Still they are only trying to do their job. How the hell can it take them months to process a simple piece of routine paperwork that is almost identical to the last half a dozen applications is beyond me. Good job they aren't doing it a company or they would capsize fairly quickly but then we are a captive audience.

[nic]

Part of the problem is the sheer amount of law that you have to know, even as a basic Bobby. Look at how long it takes a solicitor to get trained - 2years at A level law, 3 years degree course then work for while for a firm etc etc and a bobby gets 15 weeks basic which includes all the law, public order drills, unarmed defence tactics, baton CS cuffs etc first aid, lifesaving certificate how to record everything etcetcetc.

 

So they concentrate on what they deal with every day.......and then you get new laws all the time... I read somewhere that the last administration brought in more legislation than the previous 4 added together. So not all their fault... No if they specialise, why are my local FEOs so poor? Their font of knowledge guy is a joke

[GingerCat]

Over 3500 new laws were introduced in 2011, roughly 13.8 new laws come in every day. All day. 365 days a year. Every year.

You know the firearms act enough to boast of your superior knowledge compared to the average pc. Well done.

Perhaps I'll pick a random law you hardly encounter then narrow it to some obscure part and criticise your lack of knowledge.

It's easy to criticise.

 

For clarity... The feo should know it inside out as that's pretty much all the need to know.

Edited August 6, 2015 by GingerCat

[Klammer]

About 7 years ago, on my way back from a flight under the moon I was stopped by the police. I asked them politlely why they had stopped me and they told me that one of my back lights wasn't working.

I went round the back of the van and sure enough it was out, then the other officer asked to see in the back of the van. Again I politely asked why, and they came up with the usual, burglaries etc, I then said to them that there was a shotgun in the back as I had been out on the marsh shooting geese. The older of the two almost ran back to his car, whilst the younger one, although looking a bit scared, asked to see it. I went to the front and produced my certificate and after looking through it, admitted he had never seen one.

After the other one returned, I then took the gun out and basically field stripped it in the back of the van and showed them the make, model, and where to find serial numbers. After putting it back together I then even showed them how it was loaded (being a semi). Both had never been trained to identify any sort of shotgun or ammunition (although this may not be the case now).

Afterwards they both thanked me, admitting that 25 minutes with a shotgun owner explaining the do's and don'ts was more educational than the time spent at their training college.

 

I even gave one a goose that was hanging in the back.

[deershooter]

At 30 replies and we all know that you don't need a licence to hold cartridges has this not worked its course ?