MPs demand tighter gun laws

[Sprackles]

Apologies if posted elsewhere.

When is this political madness going to end.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340043/The-Home-Affairs-Select-Committee-calls-minimum-age-limits-imposed-shotgun-certificates.html

[Scully]

With all respect,MP's demanding tighter gun control is hardly news.What is news(but not very surprising)is that out of just below 165,000 gun owners in England ,Scotland and Wales,less than a 1000 submitted any form of letter to the HASC!

This is just the HASC report,and not legislation....yet!All it will take for all the HASC recommendations to become legislation,is for YOU and ME to do NOTHING!

[HDAV]

Apologies if posted elsewhere.

When is this political madness going to end.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340043/The-Home-Affairs-Select-Committee-calls-minimum-age-limits-imposed-shotgun-certificates.html

Great to see unbiased and sensible reporting from the daily mail.

 

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/news/101220-firearms-control/

[MC]

With all respect,MP's demanding tighter gun control is hardly news.What is news(but not very surprising)is that out of just below 165,000 gun owners in England ,Scotland and Wales,less than a 1000 submitted any form of letter to the HASC!

This is just the HASC report,and not legislation....yet!All it will take for all the HASC recommendations to become legislation,is for YOU and ME to do NOTHING!

 

 

Don't tar us all with the same brush,

 

I did send in a letter outlining my thoughts

 

So you do nothing by all means but I did something

[Sprackles]

With all respect,MP's demanding tighter gun control is hardly news.What is news(but not very surprising)is that out of just below 165,000 gun owners in England ,Scotland and Wales,less than a 1000 submitted any form of letter to the HASC!

This is just the HASC report,and not legislation....yet!All it will take for all the HASC recommendations to become legislation,is for YOU and ME to do NOTHING!

 

Do you really think we can make a blind bit of difference.

I am not advocating zero resistance at all but I am sick and tired of seeing protests both passive and aggressive being walked all over by governments of whatever hue you may support.

 

Democracy in this country died a long time ago.

[Guest cookoff013]

how on earth did they link derick bird and young sgc holders together?

 

***?

[al4x]

how on earth did they link derick bird and young sgc holders together?

 

***?

 

 

and then linked to total firearms offences including the vast majority done with illegal firearms. They've not posted my reply on the subject but that's probably due to a slight rant about sensationalist journalism

[sitsinhedges]

It's just reminded me why I stopped buying the Mail

 

Nothing is set in stone yet and we should all be contacting our MPs and trying to gain their support for when it goes thru Parliament

[HDAV]

Do you really think we can make a blind bit of difference.

Not with that attitude we can't, but with enough support from enough people we can try... It's not just down to all of us who shoot but also the wider public if we all introduce 1 more person to shooting and educate them as to why we shoot, how we shoot and why stupid ideas like not keeping guns in domestic premises wont work.

 

Since getting my certificate i have introduced about 10 people to shoot and safe gun handling, all of whom have received professional tuition and extremely enjoyed the experience. I strongly believe we need to educate the general public as well as our MP's

[Scully]

I wasn't aware I'd mentioned you personally MC,but you seem to have taken my post as personal to you.I also made submissions,but was pointing out that all it takes for bad law to succeed is for us all to sit back and do nothing.None of this is law yet,so the fight goes on,but another responder to this post has already said 'what's the point?'With that sort of attitude maybe I should sell my guns now and beat the rush....like I had to with my pistols!

[e2000e2000e]

I read the bbc article on the report this morning and was left with a much more up beat feeling, simplify the gun laws is the impression i was left with! and anyone who has been sent down banned for a minimum of 5 years, again can't argue with that really! I agree it is a little confussing about the younger shots, how many crimes committed my young shots with licensed fire arms, I'm not entirely sure but I'd guess zero!!! I'd also put money on those young people being more responsible than there peers! I'll be sending my reaction to this report to my MP, we've got to make sue we have laws are based on fact not opinion!

[Sprackles]

Scully, I did not say whats the point, I said do you think it will make a blind bit of difference and I speak from exasperation as I witness public outcry that comes to nought on lesser legislation and by that I mean items which dont attract massive support such as NHS, schools etc.

Shooters are a small population of the populace and as such we are easier to be ignored.

 

Banging your head against a brick wall is the phrase that sums up what I feel.

 

For every one of us who enjoy our shooting, I bet there are 10 antis with the remainder indifferent and with a biased press who cherry pick reports to make them more saleable in story terms, it doesn't exactly fill me with hope.

 

With just over a half million certificate holders, we represent less than 1% of the population.

Not good odds

[HDAV]

Not with that attitude we can't, but with enough support from enough people we can try... It's not just down to all of us who shoot but also the wider public if we all introduce 1 more person to shooting and educate them as to why we shoot, how we shoot and why stupid ideas like not keeping guns in domestic premises wont work.

Since getting my certificate i have introduced about 10 people to shoot and safe gun handling, all of whom have received professional tuition and extremely enjoyed the experience. I strongly believe we need to educate the general public as well as our MP's

 

 

Scully, I did not say whats the point, I said do you think it will make a blind bit of difference and I speak from exasperation as I witness public outcry that comes to nought on lesser legislation and by that I mean items which dont attract massive support such as NHS, schools etc.

Shooters are a small population of the populace and as such we are easier to be ignored.

 

Banging your head against a brick wall is the phrase that sums up what I feel.

 

For every one of us who enjoy our shooting, I bet there are 10 antis with the remainder indifferent and with a biased press who cherry pick reports to make them more saleable in story terms, it doesn't exactly fill me with hope.

 

With just over a half million certificate holders, we represent less than 1% of the population.

Not good odds

Well get off your ***** and do something about it then!

[Sprackles]

Who said I havn't.

Very presumptious on here are you not.

I have written to my new MP , Martin Vickers but I still stand by what I said, I dont think it will make a blind bit of difference.

[lineshooter]

Perhaps the thousands of people who did`nt bother to input, went on the marches against the pistol ban and the fox hunting ban, did the goverment take any notice then.

 

The goverment will, if they haven`t already decided do whatever they want to shooters and the like and because we can`t vote in an election for another five years we have to bend over and take it

[Sprackles]

Thanks Lineshooter..thats sums up what I have been trying to get across.

[Scully]

If we represent 1% of the population what is 929 expressed as a %tage of 164,800? I'm sure someone can do ythe maths,I can't.Do you think that's more likely to be the reason politicians take no notice?

Apparently all our submissions crashed the house of commons computer system,I wonder what would have been the outcome if all of us had submitted responses.

Regards the foxhunting debate,protests had such an effect that Parliament spent more hours debating it than they did on deciding to go to war!The outcome may not have been what the foxhunters wanted,and whether you agree with foxhunting or not,if they'd decided no one will take a blind bit of notice,no one would have marched and they wouldn't even have left what they have....and they still haven't given up.

[mossy835]

like it matters what we say,they will have there own way,they tar us all with the same brush,end of

[lineshooter]

The public have been turned against shooters for years and years, by politicians and press alike.

 

How many of you that are shooters admit it when in the company of other people for fear of the outcome.

 

Its not about how many medals our shooting teams win it`s about getting votes, if being seen to do something after the sad events in Cumbria attract voters then the shooters views/opinions fall on deaf ears.

 

I for one hope that only the sensible/practical parts of this enquiry are taken on board and we are given a chance to show that we are not all the Rambo type that keep large arsenals at home for no good reason, as the press seems only too fond of doing,

[Vince Green]

I just feel that we have been here before and its all been said already. We just got shafted then and we will again.

[Sprackles]

Scully, the calculation is roughly 0.56%

[Scully]

Cheers sprackles.

[four-wheel-drive]

Having nothing to do I did actually see the debate on TV and I was quite surprised how much support there was for shooting even Keith Vazz who everyone thought was dead against shooting said that he has changed his mind after going to Bizley and was quite positive. There was only one person who was ban everything and as expected it was a Labour chap but even he said that he was out of step with the majority of people. The only one that annoyed me was the Conservative Minister/spokesman most of what he said was positive but when asked about the handgun ban for Olympic shooters said that it was up to I think he said sport England and they are so against shooting there is not much chance of getting anywhere.

[Fisherman Mike]

Our collective voice in the shooting fraternity the BASC should do more, and be politically more active than they are especially with adverse publicity like this. However I wasnt given sole independant control of my Shotgun by my father until I was 14. I think he probably saw me as an irresponsible (In the true meaning of the word) impressionable, pre-pubescent, Child before this, which in fairness to him, I along with thousands of others of that age probably was

[MartB]

I read BASC's comments on the outcome of the meetings and then read the reports and watched the commons debate. I was assured by the first, then on reading the reports, very annoyed with BASC, then reassured again by the debate! very confusing. as one of the 0.56% of shooters who wrote in about the situation, I was pleased to note that the majority of the printed comments were of the same ilk. The one particular piece of printed written 'evidence' that was clearly anti, came from the Animal Aid mob :yp: (the other anti rants have to be requested. I recommend a stiff whisky and a medical check up, before doing so). Vaz and chums seem to have decided to adopt a number of their views as their own, despite the obvious (obvious to shooters), errors in the document. Vaz seems to have decided he is something of a firearms expert after his visit to Bisley!

The recommendation to increase costs of licenses by about triple the current rate, is an obvious and cynical way to get rid of a lot of the poorer members of the shooting community. The recommendation to make shotgun certificate applications similar to that for firearm requirements, will also put a lot of people off and the requirement, inherent in that, to show 'good reason' to own each and every shotgun (involving an ability to show where you will be shooting and why). this will be particularly difficult for rough shooters and a variety of others who are more peripatetic in their shoots. If the recommendation goes through to make shot gun licenses as difficult to obtain as firearm licenses, then I might as well go the whole hog and get a firearm or three, take up deer stalking etc. Will licenses then both be 3 year or 5? For £150 they better be 10 year! That would save a lot in police admin costs too.

 

As for the minimum age business. I thought this new government were going to go away from the big brother interference regime of the last mob. I, like most of you, started with an air rifle borrowed from my grandfather (Ok, most of you don't know my grandfather, but you get the point). He showed me how to shoot, where to shoot and what not to shoot and taught me respect for our quarry. I was 8.

 

It'll be interesting to see now how far the old government knee jerks this time. However far it goes, it'll hit us in the balls and the pocket.

Oh well. Just have to save the money I currently spend on feeding the local wildlife and donating to charities. Bah humbug!

Have a good Christmas all. The Boxing day shoot awaits