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Unhappy member seeking an alternative to BASC


Anglo
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My BASC membership is up for renewal, its expensive and I'm not impressed with the legal/political representation a member gets for his money these days.

To clarify, the two areas I'm most disappointed with are as follows:

1/ GP reports for certificate applications and renewals.

I'm not opposed to this idea in principle although i think the original implementation was a bodge. What I am opposed to is that certain constabularies have made this mandatory, against home office guidance and as far as I can tell without legal authority to do so. Our elected representatives in parliament have not seen fit to update the law, there is no legal requirement, but some of us are living under pseudo-law created by our so called public servants. So what does the BASC do with this situation... Its says it 'strongly opposes' then simply provides an avenue around the problem by putting members in touch with a friendly doctor, which is very helpful to the individual member but also sets precedent for us all, as though we accept the whole situation.

I think too often we indulge the whims and fantasies of chief constables, rather than demand that they enforce the law as written, equally for all, no more no less. If Wild Justice can challenge the legality of general licences, why can't the very well funded BASC challenge public authorities for not following the laws & guidance they themselves are supposed to implement. If they had done so years ago, perhaps we wouldn't be in a situation where shooters up & down the land have to live under all sorts of pseudo-law relating to good reason, choice of gun, ammo, variations, land deemed suitable etc. And I've not even gone into the unreasonable costs of all this! We are always in retreat when it comes to regulation surrounding shooting, rather than holding authority to account.

2/ The lead shot fiasco.

I would have been for us all moving away from plastic wads, its ecologically sound, its technically feasible, many of us do this anyway, we could have done it ASAP and chalked it up as win! Trying to ban plastic & lead at the same time, when as far as i can tell there is no real political pressure in the UK to do so, seems utterly moronic. The pressure on us is about bloodshed, it about the furry foxie woxies etc, not about the lead we use.

 

Those are my opinions, they are unlikely to change. I'm not after a debate on these two issues. I just thought I'd answer the question before someone asks why.

 

What i want to know is, if a man feels strongly about these things, would he be better off becoming a member of a different shooting organisation which is more aligned with his views?

And if so which one?

The criteria is: Good insurance, good advice and a little help with certificates should the worst happen.

Edited by Anglo
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Good luck with that one ,many expect  too much   ,they are only human ,obviously no one else stands out  hence the question ? Police forces have always pushed the boundaries and we all should have stopped using lead and plastic years ago ,Basc havent all the answers neither has anyone else.unless anyone can advise me different.

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1 minute ago, holloway said:

Good luck with that one ,many expect  too much   ,they are only human ,obviously no one else stands out  hence the question ? Police forces have always pushed the boundaries and we all should have stopped using lead and plastic years ago ,Basc havent all the answers neither has anyone else.unless anyone can advise me different.

I don't expect perfection, just not so many own goals. Like i said good insurance, good advice and a little help on certificates should the worst happen. I can do without the politics for now.

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1 minute ago, enfieldspares said:

CPSA. They didn't sign up to this lead shot BASC initiated nonsense AND cover for all shooting activities including live quarry shooting and, yes, even stalking. 

You know what, I never considered them because of  'Clay' in the title. 

Good shout.

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14 minutes ago, Sako7mm said:

I understand that the SGA have taken a more robust view of the lead issue. I think you'll be impressed with them.

Robust is a excellent word for what I'm after.

I've just read their statement, I like it, but I do wonder what they mean by That said, if quantitative and comparative science on lead in foodstuffs comes forward to suggest real dangers to eating products containing traces of lead then, of course, due diligence must be heeded.'

My view is simply that where lead is likely to be found, it should be adequately labelled, which as far as I'm aware it already is. There are many other potentially harmful foods & drinks in the supermarket, alcoholic beverages for instance. I can't see how we as a nation could be more diligent than we already being, without creating a contradiction.

Edited by Anglo
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43 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

CPSA. They didn't sign up to this lead shot BASC initiated nonsense AND cover for all shooting activities including live quarry shooting and, yes, even stalking. 

Quote:

The main game-shooting organisations in the UK (BASC, CA, CLA, GWCT, NGO, BGA, and MA) have today released a statement encouraging a voluntary move away from lead shot and single use plastics for game shooting with shotguns. The transition will happen gradually over the next five years. This decision is being taken due to recent legislation discussions in Europe that would see lead banned from consumer products, including game meat. Some UK supermarkets are already refusing to accept game that has been shot with lead, and the European market also buys a large proportion of UK game.

We at the CPSA have been involved in the discussions with the game-shooting organisations and whilst we understand their decision to voluntarily remove lead from their sport, this will have no effect on clay-target shooting.

The way I read that is, It's not that they didn't sign up to it because they didn't agree with it, its because they didn't feel threatened by it.

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None of the organisations can do anything regarding lead shot and apart from strongly worded letters, will they do anything regarding GP’s letters, and the one who will help you least of all if you’re a game shooter,  is the CPSA;  they deal in clay target shooting only, not live quarry shooting, but will be more than happy to take your money if you so wish.

You can get insurance much cheaper if it’s insurance only, you want, but what you are seeking doesn’t exist unfortunately. 

Edited by Scully
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Just get the insurance from the country cover club, same insurance without the bull and marketing and you'll be sure that they won't suggest any further encroachment on your freedoms as some form of appeasement. They'll also fight any knee jerk legislation just as successfully. 

It won't cover you for humane dispatch by the roadside, but that's a bit specialist and isn't covered by the insurance offered by basc anyway. 

Edited by mick miller
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1 hour ago, Farmboy91 said:

Yeah most probably, hopefully he might share a bit more of what he does know. With everything that's happened in the last 12 months a new org could do well.

A new org’ may do well at attracting disgruntled members from another org’, but I fail to see how it could be anymore effective ( for want of a better word ) than any of the existing org’s. 
One minute some are shouting out for our org’s to join up, next some are claiming we need another! 

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1 hour ago, Scully said:

A new org’ may do well at attracting disgruntled members from another org’, but I fail to see how it could be anymore effective ( for want of a better word ) than any of the existing org’s. 
One minute some are shouting out for our org’s to join up, next some are claiming we need another! 

I don't think it hurts to ever have another option, + a fresh perspective on things can't be bad either? 

No harm in being optimistic 😊👍 

 

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