Conor O'Gorman Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 (edited) recent posts...my take is that if we had more shooters like James and Reece on WHSmiths and Geoff on Royal Mail we would be far stronger as a result. These guys are all relatively young shooters full of positive energy willing to make their own mark and not leave it to the shooting/countryside/etc. organizations to take the lead. I hope they inspire lots more of us to take that extra step. They have certainly inspired me that we have a future to fight for. As regards BASC, we have been inserting links to the campaign from the outset in various regional emails to members, but we haven't emailed all members in one go with an Action Alert on this issue. As explained on this forum, that global action alert was planned, but was delayed due to IT problems. In the end the issue couldn't be solved and we have gone ahead with regional alerts to members instead. Last week we sent action alerts to Eastern, Southeast and Southwest regions of England and the rest of the UK will follow next week. See weblinks below if you haven't received these action alerts directly and wish to forward to your contacts. http://www.basc.org....n-alert-oct.cfm http://www.basc.org....t--whsmith-.cfm http://www.basc.org....ctober-2012.cfm Any BASC members that live in these regions and haven't received these emails directly....the issue is in your hands.....log in to BASC website as a member and set yourself up, as per the reminders to do so in recent months. I am closely involved with this issue and its worth noting that since BASC's emails went out to the Eastern, Southeast and Southwest regions the petition site only went up 300-400 sign ups. I think shooting forums and Facebook are driving this so anyone reading this please please spread the word on other shooting forums and Facebook. I think store visits are an important part of this campaign, not only to raise complaints but also to gather intel and I visited my Chester branch of WHSmith again today. Twice in fact, once early in the morning to take a photo for an update to the BASC website and later to test a few more magazines. Will provide update on BASC website tommorow. Edited October 28, 2012 by Conor O'Gorman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blunderbuss Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) Connor you have an IT issue which prevents you sending an email to everyone on your mailing list, and it 'can't be resolved'? I would change your IT support provider if I were you :( Also you say 'since emails were sent out to the Eastern, Southeast and Southwest regions'. I'm in Southwest and haven't received an email on this. I agree with much of what you say about a new generation of shooters such as James and Reece on here leading the way on this. I also agree that rank and file shooters need to do more and not leave it to others, but to do that, they first need to be made aware of the issue and many still aren't. By, by the time you email some of your members on this, the issue will be a month old, which is not the dynamic response I feel we should expect. Meanwhile the tiny Animal Aid are effectively marshalling their membership to act and are running adds in the national newspapers on the issue. You cannot rely on people using facebook and visiting your website, you must know that shooters are a conservative bunch and the majority that I know barely use the web and certainly not facebook. Most at least have an email address though out of necessity. Sack your IT manager, get someone's teenage kid to show you how to work the email and send an email to the whole membership TODAY! Edited October 29, 2012 by Blunderbuss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David BASC Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Good morning all, We can only send e-mails to those members who’s current e-mail address we have, please PM me your membership number and I will check on your records which e-mail address we have for you and let you know. For those that have receive the Fast Track alert please pass it on, to all you know who you know who shoot, thank you David Regards David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blunderbuss Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 David, PM sent, but you have the correct email address for me as I get emails from you. Just nothing on the WH Smith issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David BASC Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Thank you, i am looking into it David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNS Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Probably best to not let this drift into a BASC-knocking thread; but this feels like a small battle we could win if we got behind it, the danger is that we lose impetus and it becomes 'old news'. I am disappointed that the organisation to which I subscribe couldn't have been on this much earlier. 50,000 signatures in a week and WHS would have thought again; now it's much less likely. I'm fairly certain the annual subscription reminders will go out on time to the entire membership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David BASC Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 We explained earlier on that the initial response which stated within a day of the WHSmith issue coming to our attention, was directly to WH Smith from BASC at high level, we explained that if this alone did not yield a positive action by WH Smith we would gradually increase the lobbying through our membership, this is exactly what we have done. Thanks very much for all your help and support on this My regards David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikk Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Probably best to not let this drift into a BASC-knocking thread; but this feels like a small battle we could win if we got behind it, the danger is that we lose impetus and it becomes 'old news'. I am disappointed that the organisation to which I subscribe couldn't have been on this much earlier. 50,000 signatures in a week and WHS would have thought again; now it's much less likely. I'm fairly certain the annual subscription reminders will go out on time to the entire membership. I agree and it comes down to people not being bothered quite frankly! 50,000 should be easy considering the number of people that shoot in the UK but once again it looks like we're rolling over once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Its very easy to knock people/organisations/BASC when you have no idea whats been going on behind scenes. What we need is a revoloution within the shooting community, We need help on this on an organisational level, but we also need to help ourselfs. I should hope that BASC can use its periodicals to spread the issue to the less IT literate, perhaps a postcard that people can sign and send off in support of this petition? I have a few Idea's of my own which i hope i can get up and running by the end of this week, this honestly depends on my own levels of motivation and productivity. Stay commited, Print off leaflets to put in your local gunshop, and Smiths. Write, argue, lobby, convince, stay the course. Lethargy and Apathy will kill our sport as surely as Anti's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Lethargy and Apathy will kill our sport as surely as Anti's. Very true.I have sent three e-mails now;the last was a direct question as the previous two replies were 'stock' answers.Have had no response to the third. Following the shootings in Cumbria the response of shooters was abysmal,despite those responses 'crashing' the HO website;as a percentage of shooters it was less than 10% if I remember rightly.I was shooting at the weekend,and out of 17 shooters I was the only one who had responded to the WHSmith saga.Some hadn't even heard about it,and those who had weren't concerned.The vast majority of shooters just want to get on and enjoy what they do,with as little hassle as possible.Very few are interested in the politics involved,and those who are aware of it simply state the same old thing,'that's what I pay my sub's for'.They just want to be left alone to get on with their lives,and who can blame them?The annoying thing about this is that they can't (or wont) see the bigger picture;the 'death by a thousand cuts' syndrome. I've no doubt they would all attend another countryside march if the need arose,but I'm afraid that is what it would take to get a response from most of them,and if things grew so bad that that is what it took to get a message through to those who oppose us,it may well be too late. 'All it takes for evil to prosper,is for good men to do nothing'.This quote applies to all manner of things in life,and is equally apt for the Jimmy Saville scandal we're presently seeing,through all manner of political shenanigans to the smaller deceitful behaviour of WWT and Animal Aid. I get fed up with trying,to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted October 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 We all do, thats the truth of it, 1% of us want a more secure future for our sport, and the other 99% want to enjoy it while they can. Non of my local gun shops had even heard of the petition, im going to keep going on this one, i will see that policy retracted and others like it, i will devote my free time as i have been doing to rally support for this, i will make sure it happens. Its imperitive for the future of our sport, then if bad things happen i wont be sat in the police station handing in my shotgun wishing i had tried to change something. At the moment it feels like we are gathering food while people look on half impressed eating. We have a lot on our side, but if we do not safeguard the future of shooting there will be no future, and that will be a very sad day indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNS Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 BASC Northern Region email just landed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerettaSV10 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Just had the usual stock reply to my last email the usual auto responder, though did send it to uncle tom cobbly and all in whs and wait further responses.. Dear Customer Thank you for your email. We appreciate the time you have taken to contact us. We take all of our customer comments seriously and want to make sure we fully investigate your concerns before responding to you. Thank you for your patience. Customer Services Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDAV Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 We all do, thats the truth of it, 1% of us want a more secure future for our sport, and the other 99% want to enjoy it while they can. Non of my local gun shops had even heard of the petition, im going to keep going on this one, i will see that policy retracted and others like it, i will devote my free time as i have been doing to rally support for this, i will make sure it happens. Its imperitive for the future of our sport, then if bad things happen i wont be sat in the police station handing in my shotgun wishing i had tried to change something. At the moment it feels like we are gathering food while people look on half impressed eating. We have a lot on our side, but if we do not safeguard the future of shooting there will be no future, and that will be a very sad day indeed. Worth sending a link and some info to the GTA http://www.gtaltd.co.uk/ and asking them to send it to there members (Might be worth calling them first to find out who to send it too). Also there are some other smaller organisations for Airgun shooters etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reece Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Apathy is as big a threat to shooting as the antis themselves. If shooters became more proactive, it would provide massive obstacles to antis trying to attack shooting. With apathy, there are few obstacles, and antis win their battles one by one. This is one of the reasons why people should be sending letters to newspapers whenever they see any article on shooting, whether it is positive, negative or neutral about it. Gradually, it can help gain public support. It would also help to send letters to shooting magazines, and maybe we can drill it into the apathetic parts of the shooting community that their apathy could one day destroy our sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sussexboy Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 I am in the South East and I got my BASC email last Friday. I emailed all three people mentioned and received a stock reply today from Denise Hughes. So I have emailed them all again. Must dash..........have a boar to sit and wait for!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poontang Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Is it just me or has the Facebook page disappeared? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Have just been on it and found a comment 'Keep fox hunting banned' congratulating whsmith on banning magazines with 'dangerous weapons',but could find nothing else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerettaSV10 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 The facebook page has disappeared for me as well can only find WHS's own page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reece Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) I can't find it either. The link in my signature at the moment takes me to my news feed. It's also disappeared from my facebook likes. I'm starting to think it's been taken down, but why would it? Edited October 30, 2012 by Reece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BerettaSV10 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 I'm starting to think it's been taken down, but why would it? Wonder if its pressure from WHS or the anti's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 The page is back up. I had shut it down over night because i needed some damn sleep! the page is here; http://www.facebook.com/WHsmithsRetractPolicyOnSaleOfShootingMagazines?sk=wall&filter=2¬if_t=wall As you can see the page is getting sustained attacks from spanish and portugese animal rights activists. Please respond to their messages and abuse calmly and constructively, all abusive offensive or violent posts will be reomved or reported to facebook. Thankyou for everyone's support. Never before has there been public support on an issue on such a scale. Have a few other projects in mind on this petition and further campaigns, if anyone is interesting in taking a more hands on role in this please PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1957 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 A number of the pictures appear to be threatening violent consequences for those who shoot. I have reported them to Facebook as such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reece Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) The page is back up. I had shut it down over night because i needed some damn sleep! the page is here; http://www.facebook....=2¬if_t=wall As you can see the page is getting sustained attacks from spanish and portugese animal rights activists. Please respond to their messages and abuse calmly and constructively, all abusive offensive or violent posts will be reomved or reported to facebook. Thankyou for everyone's support. Never before has there been public support on an issue on such a scale. Have a few other projects in mind on this petition and further campaigns, if anyone is interesting in taking a more hands on role in this please PM me. Why did you need to shut it down to get sleep? I was thinking about sending a detailed letter to Shooting Times for the "have your say" section, and talk about the section of the shooting community which is still apathetic to threats to their sport. Maybe I can drill a few home truths into these shooters, and encourage them to be more proactive. A number of the pictures appear to be threatening violent consequences for those who shoot. I have reported them to Facebook as such. Also known as the Animal Liberation Front, which has been labelled a terrorist organisation. EDIT: I have made a draft letter for the "have your say" section of Shooting Times, calling on the apathetic shooters to become more proactive. It can be no more than 500 words, and it is on 486 words, so I cannot add much more, but before I send it, I would like feedback. Here it is: One of the latest threats to shooting has come from WHSmith, who have decided to ban the sale of shooting magazines to children. Many shooters have responded to WHSmith's decision, including signing a petition, and BASC has encouraged people to visit stores to complain. Some shooters have said that this issue has marked "the death of apathy" among the shooting community. Shooters are taking threats to their sport more seriously than they were. However, apathy still seems to be a problem. As I write this letter, the petition opposing WHSmith's policy has received 8592 signatures. BASC has at least 130,000 members, and considering that there will be some shooters who are not BASC members, the true size of the shooting community is likely to be significantly larger. Assuming the size of the shooting community is somewhere around the BASC membership number, only 6.6% of shooters have signed the WHSmith petition. This really is not good enough. It is obvious that some shooters still treat threats to their sport with apathy, when they could be doing more to defend our sport. While more and more shooters are becomong more proactive, it really is wishful thinking to say that the WHSmith issue has marked the end of apathy among shooters. We still have a long way to go. Apathy among shooters is as big a threat to shooting as the antis themselves. It is easy to think that us shooters are safe and we don't have anything to lose, but we ignore the actions of the antis at our own peril. As we ignore the antis, their claims and campaigns go unchallenged. This results in public opinion turning against shooting, and anti shooting campaigns succeeding. As I have mentioned, many shooters are doing their bit to defend shooting, but there are some who still seem to ignore what are very serious threats to sport. One person said that he was out shooting with 17 other people, and he was the only one who had responded to the WHSmith campaign. Some of the others had not even heard about it and the ones which had were not concerned. This is simply unacceptable. To you apathetic shooters out there, your attitude could one day destroy our sport. Any shooters who have not already done so should sign the WHSmith petition and encourage others to do the same. To sign the petition, go to http://chn.ge/Rs0xEn. Shooters need to be more proactive, not just on the WHSmith issue, but on every issue surrounding shooting. I encourage shooters to do as much as they can to defend the sport of shooting for future generations. This could include things such as signing petitions and sending letters to newspapers to put our side of the argument across. This may not seem like much, but if more shooters do it, it will all add up and make a difference. Small steps today save our sport tomorrow. Edited October 30, 2012 by Reece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Very impressive reece, i like it, kudos for writing it! Im no good as an editior though as my SPG is terrible, however content wise i like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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