Is it inevitable?

[Genghis]

That we will one day see a total ban on firearms?

 

Every time the subject of gun control comes up there’s always so many comments either asking for a total ban or that guns should not be allowed to be kept at home.

I try to stay positive, but it feels like the antis are like a tide that’s slowly rising. You put sandbags in front of the tide to slow it down, but eventually it’s going to get through. It feels like this is what we do, we’re just trying to slow them down for as long as possible, but one day they’ll win. The question I guess, is how long will that take?

Am I being too negative?

[Spr1985]

Yea you’re being to negative. IMO.  All it takes is for people to stand up and fight for  what we love… the saying goes something like :- all it takes for evil to prevail is a good man to stand by and say nothing. 

[Fargo]

No I don’t think within the next century they will but I think it will become a lot more restricted and the number of gun owners will reduce dramatically due to licensing , price and availability of shooting opportunities.

[Rob85]

Being from Northern Ireland, this province is proof that taking lawfully owned guns away wouldn't work at all. For years over here you would have found it exceptionally difficult to obtain a rifle over and above an air rifle or a double barrel shotgun. Yet the wooly face brigades still managed to import kalashnikovs and armalite rifles.

Now we are the only part of the UK where you can still own and possess at home a standard non modified  9mm handgun, with the only caveat that it is for range use only at a club you belong to.

[bluesj]

20 minutes ago, Genghis said:

That we will one day see a total ban on firearms?

 

Every time the subject of gun control comes up there’s always so many comments either asking for a total ban or that guns should not be allowed to be kept at home.

I try to stay positive, but it feels like the antis are like a tide that’s slowly rising. You put sandbags in front of the tide to slow it down, but eventually it’s going to get through. It feels like this is what we do, we’re just trying to slow them down for as long as possible, but one day they’ll win. The question I guess, is how long will that take?

Am I being too negative?

I think we will. There are only just over 1/2 million people in the uk that have an interest in them not being banned and I think we all know that no one in charge are listening to anything we say.

[Minky]

I believe that shooting in all forms will fall for several reasons. The writing is on the wall. When I was a kid, old boys used to ride a push bike through the village with a shotgun tied to the crossbar and a box of ferrets. At end of the day he would dock into the pub, prop the shotgun up in a corner and haul a load of rabbits into the bar to sell to drinkers.  Nowadays none of that would happen.  When I and my friends were at school we aspired to own a ratty 410 and then a ratty double of some sort and eventually something better but now there aren't many lads who want to go out of the house and away from their phone's.  How many women or men would touch or God forbid gut and butcher any sort of game.  At my rifle club most of the members are old boys.  The rising costs are killing the sport off.  And what are the orgs doing to stop the rot of persistent restictions by plod.  Right across the board there are restrictions.  Ok there will still be the hard-core diehards that keep going but a lot of things will contrive against shooting.  I've even had people come out onto the fields to confront me when out lamping .  They don't  know the land like I  do and they don't have the fieldcraft skills but when they can't find me because I've  melted they have verbally  abused me as a murdering fellow.  Whereas I considered guns as tools a lot of people treat them as fashion accessories.   In the sport for a while and then gone.

[enfieldspares]

36 minutes ago, Fargo said:

No I don’t think within the next century they will but I think it will become a lot more restricted and the number of gun owners will reduce dramatically due to licensing , price and availability of shooting opportunities.

Be assured that that "class" that spawned Jacob Rees-Mogg will still continue to own them.

[Fargo]

14 minutes ago, enfieldspares said:

Be assured that that "class" that spawned Jacob Rees-Mogg will still continue to own them.

Sadly you need the Uber wealthy to provide big estates and jobs for keepers then beaters etc.

However what I am seeing more and more is what where proper country sporting estates down here (3500+ acres with stately house and villages etc) when the new generation takes over from the fieldsports obsessed parents is the majority aren’t so fussed anymore . 
Few big shooting folk also closed their shoots of 40 days a year and turned them Into wild bird shoots - when asked why they say they’ve had enough and don’t think commercial shooting is for them anymore and happy to potter about with their mates for 30 birds a day. It’s ok for them as they are old 60+ and had a lifetime of sport laid on for them.

I think the country scene and shooting will change dramatically within the next 10-15 years when the “old guard” die off. Sad really but like that in all walks of life it seems.

[billytheghillie]

Yes you are being negative. If they cant get guns, they will just carry on with knives, which are very easily accessible to all ages, just look at the news every day someone is stabbed.

[Fargo]

26 minutes ago, billytheghillie said:

Yes you are being negative. If they cant get guns, they will just carry on with knives, which are very easily accessible to all ages, just look at the news every day someone is stabbed.

Sadly in a lot of inner city areas it’s the “norm” to have daily stabbings and youths thinking it’s ok to carry them. 

[GHE]

Sadly, I think that it is inevitable, given that the antis are so well-organised and noisy, and our shooting organisations aren't.

[Fellside]

19 hours ago, Minky said:

I believe that shooting in all forms will fall for several reasons. The writing is on the wall. When I was a kid, old boys used to ride a push bike through the village with a shotgun tied to the crossbar and a box of ferrets. At end of the day he would dock into the pub, prop the shotgun up in a corner and haul a load of rabbits into the bar to sell to drinkers.  Nowadays none of that would happen.  When I and my friends were at school we aspired to own a ratty 410 and then a ratty double of some sort and eventually something better but now there aren't many lads who want to go out of the house and away from their phone's.  How many women or men would touch or God forbid gut and butcher any sort of game.  At my rifle club most of the members are old boys.  The rising costs are killing the sport off.  And what are the orgs doing to stop the rot of persistent restictions by plod.  Right across the board there are restrictions.  Ok there will still be the hard-core diehards that keep going but a lot of things will contrive against shooting.  I've even had people come out onto the fields to confront me when out lamping .  They don't  know the land like I  do and they don't have the fieldcraft skills but when they can't find me because I've  melted they have verbally  abused me as a murdering fellow.  Whereas I considered guns as tools a lot of people treat them as fashion accessories.   In the sport for a while and then gone.

Hi Minky,

You make some interesting points. Certainly things have changed a lot since the more casual country use of guns was so prevalent. And yes, kids definitely stay glued to their screens as much as they can. However, I find that if they are offered a bash at clays (easy ones) with a little 410, and they start hitting and smiling, they really want to return. The main problem is that their parents or wider family rarely have any shooting contacts as a ‘way in’. Once given some decent coaching they are willing to give up their screens…..at least for a short while……🙂

On the wider subject of ‘is it inevitable?’ I don’t think the complete demise of shooting is at all inevitable. Further restrictions yes, more cost yes, but essentially nothing to completely stop what we do. My main concern, is not that shooting will stop, but that it becomes less affordable for new starters on a tight budget. 

[Genghis]

21 hours ago, Spr1985 said:

Yea you’re being to negative. IMO.  All it takes is for people to stand up and fight for  what we love… the saying goes something like :- all it takes for evil to prevail is a good man to stand by and say nothing. 

 

21 hours ago, Fargo said:

No I don’t think within the next century they will but I think it will become a lot more restricted and the number of gun owners will reduce dramatically due to licensing , price and availability of shooting opportunities.

I hope that you both are correct. I’d love to be wrong. It’s not helping that we hear about every single shooting incident in the US, poisoning the public’s mind against guns even more. Almost without fail, every time I hear someone call for a total ban they bring up the US as if it has any value as a measuring stick.

21 hours ago, bluesj said:

I think we will. There are only just over 1/2 million people in the uk that have an interest in them not being banned and I think we all know that no one in charge are listening to anything we say.

This. Unfortunately, British people are very fond of banning things they don’t like by nature.

19 hours ago, billytheghillie said:

Yes you are being negative. If they cant get guns, they will just carry on with knives, which are very easily accessible to all ages, just look at the news every day someone is stabbed.

This is common sense, but I don’t know if it matters to those wanting a ban. They don’t care about statistics, they just don’t like guns.

4 hours ago, GHE said:

Sadly, I think that it is inevitable, given that the antis are so well-organised and noisy, and our shooting organisations aren't.

Maybe that’s partially it, but there’s also a lot more of them than us. If every person in the U.K.

 

Intetesting thought - the only country in the world to have a ‘total ban’ is North Korea. Sounds pretty grim to me.

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, Genghis said:

 

I hope that you both are correct. I’d love to be wrong. It’s not helping that we hear about every single shooting incident in the US, poisoning the public’s mind against guns even more. Almost without fail, every time I hear someone call for a total ban they bring up the US as if it has any value as a measuring stick.

This. Unfortunately, British people are very fond of banning things they don’t like by nature.

This is common sense, but I don’t know if it matters to those wanting a ban. They don’t care about statistics, they just don’t like guns.

Maybe that’s partially it, but there’s also a lot more of them than us. If every person in the U.K.

 

Intetesting thought - the only country in the world to have a ‘total ban’ is North Korea. Sounds pretty grim to me.

What is it that caused the ban there and what caused the legislation that was introduced here early on in the 20th Century?

[Gas seal]

Firearms are prohibited to civilians in Japan , airguns and shotguns are allowed with strict conditions. I started shooting with a gun and dog license from my post office when the post office stopped selling a gun license I bought them from the police. No dog license now. When this happened it was ( the end of shooting and guns) a lot has changed in the world since but we still have firearms. The increased cost of all types of shooting will effect the amount of shooting we do , and the wildlife we will be allowed or not allowed to shoot . There are 1,000s of guns for sale, if people stop shooting there will be a lot more for sale. 

[Fargo]

7 minutes ago, Gas seal said:

Firearms are prohibited to civilians in Japan , airguns and shotguns are allowed with strict conditions. I started shooting with a gun and dog license from my post office when the post office stopped selling a gun license I bought them from the police. No dog license now. When this happened it was ( the end of shooting and guns) a lot has changed in the world since but we still have firearms. The increased cost of all types of shooting will effect the amount of shooting we do , and the wildlife we will be allowed or not allowed to shoot . There are 1,000s of guns for sale, if people stop shooting there will be a lot more for sale. 

That is true and it’s a buyers market for used guns now. 

[Scully]

42 minutes ago, Fargo said:

That is true and it’s a buyers market for used guns now. 

If ‘people stop shooting’ there won’t be anyone to sell them to. 

[Fargo]

1 minute ago, Scully said:

If ‘people stop shooting’ there won’t be anyone to sell them to. 

Export for peanuts 

[Scully]

2 hours ago, Fargo said:

Export for peanuts 

I think gas seal is referring to the UK; there will never be a global ban. 

[wymberley]

No, but things in the future will be somewhat different.

Driven shooting will be all wild birds and with the odd exceptions all guests will be paying. Walked up will continue but again all birds will be wild.

Foreshore wildfowling will continue.

Other shooting which by and large means vermin will also continue but will be purpose orientated and limited.

Numerically speaking the number of Guns will be on a par with the mid 20th century. The biggest driver for this will be that all shooters will be obliged to show competence in terms of hunting knowledge and also gun handling with this latter aspect only necessary for clay target shooters - in other words licensed in addition to that required for firearms/guns. Enjoy.

[Gas seal]

Hi sorry l didn’t mean if everyone stopped shooting. When the police license came out in the 60s a lot of guns were handed in or cut up and scraped. Some of my friends stopped shooting and gave me their guns, they were better than my guns. A friend had a good hammer gun he never got a license he cut it up and binned it. I got forms from the police station for myself and my brother took them to my doctors the same day , no appointment needed, he signed them and charged me £1 .00 . I had no advice about the new license the lady in the post office told me l will have to get my license from the police station. The firearms regulations and the higher cost of all types of shooting will effect the numbers of people shooting, or taking up shooting. Some countries don’t allow civilians to hold any firearms at all. 

[Gerry78]

On 16/05/2023 at 19:58, Genghis said:

That we will one day see a total ban on firearms?

 

Every time the subject of gun control comes up there’s always so many comments either asking for a total ban or that guns should not be allowed to be kept at home.

I try to stay positive, but it feels like the antis are like a tide that’s slowly rising. You put sandbags in front of the tide to slow it down, but eventually it’s going to get through. It feels like this is what we do, we’re just trying to slow them down for as long as possible, but one day they’ll win. The question I guess, is how long will that take?

Am I being too negative?

With the UK on its knees regarding the economy do you actually think the government would ban guns with millions of pounds hunting/shooting/clays etc put into the economy??? 

[bluesj]

9 hours ago, Gerry78 said:

With the UK on its knees regarding the economy do you actually think the government would ban guns with millions of pounds hunting/shooting/clays etc put into the economy??? 

Yes!

[sutty2006]

They did it with car tax, and now look at them back healing themselves. Personally I don’t think they will ever get banned, still too many scumbags running around without a license so those already sticking to strict laws shouldn’t suffer. But there’s always an ounce on possibility. You never know! 

[marsh man]

I often now look back to how things were and how they are now with a heavy heart , I very much doubt that if I was taking up shooting now as a 13 year old I would still be shooting as I know it 60 odd year later , we know we have to move on with times but the countryside is shrinking at an alarming rate with housing and industrial sites , I go down the marsh everyday and very often my mind roll back in time when I shot a right and left at Pink Feet in what is now a car dealership , and then walked up English Partridges where a scrap yard is now , I could easily go on and on , apart from land to shoot on we have lost many species off the quarry list that will never return  , not that I would still want to shoot the Waders that we once could and the odd specie of geese but they were there if you wanted to , the lead ban on wildfowl shooting , from buying a licence from the post office to all the rig more roll that is required for a s g c nowadays , and not forgetting the cost of shotgun shooting .

We also used to have several junior and young members in our wildfowling clubs , now if you do see any they are normally in the club for a year and then move on , yes the odd one do stay but they are certainly a one off .       MM