WHSmiths petition. Please show your support and sign.

[Reece]

So, again, no till prompts?

 

David BASC, please add the comments to the BASC website when you see this.

 

Also, could shooters please go to all WHSmith stores they know and test to see if they still have till prompts? Also speak to the store manager or whatever if you can, and make a note of what he/she/ says about the policy. At the moment, store managers are the closest we will have to official confirmation. If we cannot get official confirmation, we should settle for comments from as many store managers as possible.

 

Here is a store finder, which should also be added to the BASC website: http://www.whsmith.c...toreFinder.aspx

 

EDIT: Yet another comment on the facebook page:

 

Mike Wells

The Shooting mags are still in the same place middle shelf waist height in Putney High Street SW15. I asked the cashier if there was a Till prompt for any shooting magazine, he said No there was not

Edited November 8, 2012 by Reece

[David BASC]

Thanks,

 

Conor will be onto this - he's leading on our web site for this one

 

David

[Conor O'Gorman]

thanks all for sending reports in whether directly, via pigeonwatch and on the Facebook campaign site. I think i have covered all the reports so far but if not feel free to add a comment here flagging up any i have missed.

Click here for latest reports on BASC website

 

We have had our first report of an age-restriction in place - for Guns & Ammo 2013 Annual Magazine, in the Churchill Square branch in Brighton.

 

It is unclear whether this is specific to that magazine or across all shooting magazines in that store. I have alerted the publishers in the USA regarding this. They also publish Guns and Ammo. I hope to visit the Chester branch (for the fifth time!) to check this out for myself at the weekend.

 

If anyone else could test Guns & Ammo 2013 Annual Magazine and Guns and Ammo in their local stores and report back that would really help tease this one out.

[Reece]

Activity on the petition has yet again slowed down.

 

Also, please add some comments on the following articles, where some antis are active:

 

http://www.thisisglo...tail/story.html

 

http://www.thisisglo...tail/story.html

 

Also, could BASC put a link to the WHSmith store finder on the BASC website? It might help some people.

 

And Conor, when you go there, could you talk to a manager or something about the policy, and ask if it has been retracted? As I said, this could be the closest we get to official confirmation.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Reece

[fuzzypigeon]

signed.....took me long enough...but signed and an email to all those i know

[demonwolf444]

Updates from Facebook website.

Hello! Been really busy with UCAS/UNI application for the last two days, I just want to take this time to thank everyone who in my absence have continued communication with BASC and kept up with reasearch and discussion on this page. It speaks dividends of the shooting community and shows how serious we are to see this campaign through, in the last two days we have recieved 50 new likes on this pa

ge alone. Please make sure you send ALL your contacts this petition and this page. Thankyou for all your kind messages and support it helps motivate me and makes me feel like working on this. So thankyou, and thankyou. The key thing is to make sure you send the petition to every single person possible to extend our reach and maintain pressure. The campaign and boycott continues and thank you for your efforts!

 

A great bit of feedback i recieved today. This is exactly the effect we want to achieve. Spread the word on the shop floor level. If your WHsmiths has not got any self service tills, explain to the cashier and use the normal tills, asking for information on which on's flag up a prompt.

" I have just visited the large Southend-on-Sea store and scanned c15 publications through the self-service till

. They were all the usual titles plus anything more loosely connected with guns, fieldsports or shooting. None flagged up and, amusingly, when I selected 'cancel all items' the speaking till drew attention from the young male supervisor whereupon he wandered over, avoided all eye contact and entered his supervisor's code to complete the non-sale. He asked in a very resigned and mystified tone 'is there some kind of campaign or something going on?'. When I asked him why he was asking he replied that a few people had done what I had and then not bought anything! I explained the position, he offered no opinion, personal or professional, and I left.

 

It would appear the Southend BASC contingent is having the desired effect on at least our local store. They are now very well aware of the issues. " Obviously a massive thankyou for all our shooting friends in southend, but this must be repeated countrywide to make our efforts effective.

 

We have been recieving uncertain reports regarding a till prompt on the "guns and ammo" magazines, The policy may be back on, or it may be specific to this publishing group. Never the less i urge you in your investigations, to pay particular attention to this magazine and report back any till prompts you recieve. I my self will continue more reasearch on sunday and urge as many people as possible to get into town and find out! This campaign calls for nothing but the COMPLETE removal and retraction of age restrictive policies on shooting and shooting related titles.

[Reece]

More reports from the facebook page, for the BASC website.

 

Cal Hepburn

I went in to ny local whsmiths and asked if they knew of any ban on age sales , the guy on the till looked at me like i had 2 heads and said we know nothing of this...... Also a store 20 miles away said the same......

[Conor O'Gorman]

 

Also, could BASC put a link to the WHSmith store finder on the BASC website? It might help some people.

 

 

Good tip, thanks, BASC webpage updated with a store finder.

[Conor O'Gorman]

More reports from the facebook page, for the BASC website.

 

Cal Hepburn

I went in to ny local whsmiths and asked if they knew of any ban on age sales , the guy on the till looked at me like i had 2 heads and said we know nothing of this...... Also a store 20 miles away said the same......

 

can you go back to him and request what stores he visited please and if he tested any magazines?

[Reece]

can you go back to him and request what stores he visited please and if he tested any magazines?

 

Berwick Upon Tweed and Kelso. But I don't think she tested any magazines. I've asked her over the facebook page.

[Conor O'Gorman]

BASC has received another age restriction report, this time for Airgun Shooter and Airsoft in Birkenhead:

 

Visited the store on 8th November and had the following magazines checked for a till prompt.....

 

Airgun Shooter (13pa)

Shooting Times (no)

Shooting Gazette (no)

Airgunner (no)

Sporting Gun (no)

Shooting Sports (no)

Sporting Rifle (no)

Clay Shooting (no)

Airsoft (13pa)

Bushcraft (no)

Sporting Shooter (no)

 

The girl on the checkout was unsure what the till prompt "13pa" meant. I explained I was a shooter and a member of BASC and how it encourages, like all the magazines, safe shooting practice.

I asked to see the duty Manager .... Politely told him of my concerns and he indicated "13pa" possibly meant "allowed for someone aged 13 with parental assent"

 

I indicated I was as a customer unhappy with that and would like to complain .. he said I could not do that via himself .... and directed me to email WH Smiths direct ............ I thanked him and said I would.

[Reece]

BASC has received another age restriction report, this time for Airgun Shooter and Airsoft in Birkenhead:

 

Visited the store on 8th November and had the following magazines checked for a till prompt.....

 

Airgun Shooter (13pa)

Shooting Times (no)

Shooting Gazette (no)

Airgunner (no)

Sporting Gun (no)

Shooting Sports (no)

Sporting Rifle (no)

Clay Shooting (no)

Airsoft (13pa)

Bushcraft (no)

Sporting Shooter (no)

 

The girl on the checkout was unsure what the till prompt "13pa" meant. I explained I was a shooter and a member of BASC and how it encourages, like all the magazines, safe shooting practice.

I asked to see the duty Manager .... Politely told him of my concerns and he indicated "13pa" possibly meant "allowed for someone aged 13 with parental assent"

 

I indicated I was as a customer unhappy with that and would like to complain .. he said I could not do that via himself .... and directed me to email WH Smiths direct ............ I thanked him and said I would.

 

Oh. Could be that the policy has not been lifted and that other stores are down to technical errors. Could be that the policy has been lifted but some stores have not got round to removing the till prompts yet. Either way, we need to keep up the campaign, just to make sure.

 

Reports from someone on the facebook page suggest that shooting magazines are not age restricted at Cambridge rail station, Leeds rail station and Newcastle station. Have asked him which magazines he tested.

[HDAV]

Has this been as widely publicised on AGbbs etc as it seems its the airgun titles that are restricted.

 

 

[Reece]

Animal Aid are targeting other newsagents, not just WHSmith so it might be worth checking others if you have the time. If it has happened, we probably would have heard something by now, so it is extremely unlikely, but it would be a good idea just to make sure.

 

It would also be good to lobby other newsagents like we did WHSmith. We should have lobbied WHSmith when Animal Aid's campaign started receiving media attention. If we lobby other newsagents, we should be able to stop them following suit. I will look for the email addresses later and post them here.

 

I was suggesting Waterstones, but I don't think they sell magazines, just books.

 

A comment from the facebook page:

 

Richard Miller

Confirm shooting mags on bottom shelf and not 'age restricted' at Cambridge rail station, Leeds rail station and Newcastle station - testing done this week.

 

I asked him which ones he tested, and it was Shooting Times and Sporting Shooter.

 

James says he has already passed it on, but I think this was before Richard told me which magazines he tested.

 

And Cal Hepburn, whose comments I posted earlier, tested Sporting Rifle.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Dean Farley

I asked one of the cashiers last week at the Fort shopping centre in Birmingham and he knew noting of a age restriction on sales of shooting magazines, so by the sound of it bit it wasn't in force there.

 

I asked him, and he didn't test any magazines.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Reece

[Reece]

Sorry. A freak error happened when I tried to edit the above post, and I accidentally posted one post which just said "i". I can't figure out how to delete this. If a mod is reading this, get rid of this post please.

Edited November 11, 2012 by Reece

[Conor O'Gorman]

Thanks for the updates Reece, i have added two new reports to the BASC website based on that information. My latest report is as follows:

 

Following recent age restriction reports for Airsoft, Airgun Shooter and Guns & Ammo 2013 I visited the Chester branch of WHSmith today to investigate.

 

They didnt have Airgun Shooter in stock so I scanned Airsoft and Guns and Ammo 2013 on the self service till.

 

Guns and Ammo 2013 flagged a till prompt requiring assistance and Airsoft came up with the 13pa symbol.

 

I queried the 13pa symbol with staff and they didn't know what it meant and that there had been no memo from head office to explain things.

 

I also tested Sporting Gun, a magazine previously age restricted in this store, and it was fine.

[altnipper]

Got shooting times from bristol temple meads whsmiths on a self service till . All ok no prompt, was on the bottom shelf, interestingly vegetarian living was on the top shelf a long way away from the children!

Edited November 13, 2012 by altnipper

[demonwolf444]

Please in your research foucs on what we believe are the remaining items that are affected, These are Airgun Shooter, Airsoft magazine and the Guns & Ammo 2013 annual magazine. Publishers have been contacted and are working on it. Further more pressure on WHsmiths Via talks with managers, or emailing must continue. By tomorrow BASC's emails to its members should have gone out to every member, and the campaign will be in the next issue of shooting and conservation. I urge you to do reasearch on the above titles, and furthermore if you are a member of a organisation that isnt BASC contact them and place pressure on them to Mass email their members. Cooperation is appreciated as always. Thankyou guys and all the best.

[Reece]

I've sent another email urging WHSmith to remove all age restrictions for the three titles still affected. Could all people reading this please do the same, and encourage others to do so as well. Make it clear that our campaign will not end untill all age restrictions on all shooting magazines are completely lifted.

 

Also, there appears to have been a little "spike" in the number of new signatures on the petition.

Edited November 13, 2012 by Reece

[JonathanL]

I believe that Guns & Ammo had had issues for a long time with WHS and other retailers. It might be due to the fact that a lot of the stuff and practices they discuss are illegal here or something. Not that that is any excuse.

 

J.

[Reece]

An important post from Airgun Shooter on their magazine's facebook page:

https://www.facebook...365300846893268

 

There are a lot of comments from Airgun Shooter Magazine, who have bene testing their magazine in WHSmith stores. BASC, please add their findings to the BASC website.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Reece

[Scully]

Will be in town this weekend so will ask re' Airgun shooter,Airsoft and Guns & Ammo.Can't think why AS would be targeted,but I think Airsoft possibly covers battle re-enactments(where no-one is killed!)but I could be wrong as I don't read it.I used to buy G&A many years ago however,and topics covered include concealed carry,and guns/loads for home defence,both pracises of which are perfectly legal in most places of the magazines country of origin,but for some reason can cause colliwobbles in some over here.Will enquire;should be fun.

[Reece]

Will be in town this weekend so will ask re' Airgun shooter,Airsoft and Guns & Ammo.Can't think why AS would be targeted,but I think Airsoft possibly covers battle re-enactments(where no-one is killed!)but I could be wrong as I don't read it.I used to buy G&A many years ago however,and topics covered include concealed carry,and guns/loads for home defence,both pracises of which are perfectly legal in most places of the magazines country of origin,but for some reason can cause colliwobbles in some over here.Will enquire;should be fun.

 

Try to speak to someone in charge as well, such as a store manager, and ask about the policy.

 

On another note, I have had a response! Not sure if it's a stock reply or not. I think it's changed because it mentiones our campaign.

 

I am contacting you regarding WHSmith's policy which bans the sale of shooting magazines to children.

 

Shooters have been encouraged to go into WHSmith stores to test the till prompts which were used to enforce WHSmith's age restrictions on shooting magazines.

 

Recent reports suggest that till prompts have now been removed for all shooting magazines, except for three titles: Airgun shooter, Airsoft, and Guns and Ammo 2013. These three titles still seem to be restricted. Airsoft and Airgun shooter come up with "13pa" on the till prompts, and Guns and Ammo 2013 flags a till prompt requiring assistance, according to reports from shooters who have been testing the till prompts.

 

WHSmith are making good steps in the right direction by removing the age restrictions for most shooting titles, but the restrictions must be removed for all titles. I urge WHSmith to remove the age restrictions for the three mentioned magazines. The campaign by shooters to get WHSmith to retract its policy will only finish when all age restrictions on all shooting magazines are lifted.

 

Dear Reece

Thank you for your email.

WHSmith aims to offer our customers choice, whilst striking the right balance for customers who often have strongly opposing views and not acting as a censor. We therefore aim to display such magazines in locations where they are accessible to those who want to buy them, but do not offend those who do not.

 

Our till prompt process has been in place for over 6 years and has never previously generated any customer complaints. In this respect, we have made no recent changes to these procedures. The introduction of till prompts with regards to certain shooting titles originated from the fact that a number of these publications have included 'cover mounts' attached to the front of the magazine, that have historically included certain firearm related products. With regard to the application of these procedures across our store chain, these till prompts have only been applied to a section of the gun related and shooting titles that we stock, in respect of a limited number of publications.

 

We continually look at all store procedures, including the use of till prompts, to determine whether they are appropriate in light of changing customer needs, legislative amendments and other regulatory monitoring. Our desire going forwards is to work more closely with the shooting magazine publishers to address the concerns that have been highlighted by all of the customers who have recently contacted us about this issue, in order to ensure that appropriate monitoring procedures can be applied, prior to these publications being sent to the store for placing on sale".

 

Kind Regards

Lisa Jones

Customer Service Coordinator

[HDAV]

Our desire going forwards is to work more closely with the shooting magazine publishers to address the concerns that have been highlighted by all of the customers who have recently contacted us about this issue, in order to ensure that appropriate monitoring procedures can be applied, prior to these publications being sent to the store for placing on sale".

 

That bit is new....................

[Gimlet]

So not wishing to censor the buying public they're going to censor the publishers? That surely is a complete cop out. They will sell shooting magazines but only after vetting the content and presentation and putting in place such sales and display conditions that appease customer groups who's views and custom they hold in higher regard than those of shooters. We're no further forward by the sound of it. Weasel words.