Drop Your Weapons.

[kdubya]

You seem (to me) to have the most consistent and publicly vehement anti-Police attitude out of all of us on here, kdubya. There are bad apples in every walk of life, and whilst a good few surface in the constabularies, I've come to accept that the majority of coppers are capable and decent individuals. My job brings me in to contact with the police on a (frustratingly) regular basis, and my previously hostile attitude has mellowed over time.

 

not true really, one of my best mates was a local copper (he left the force because he could not stand the inability to sort the wrong uns out and leave the good ones alone) I simply speak as I find and through my experience in life, when I was 15 (long ago) I left school and prior to starting an aprentiship in foster wheelers, I started work for a local garage that specialised in the recovery of road crashed vehicles,now this garage ALWAYS got the calls to recover cars& bikes etc some of the crashes resulted in fatalities and very serious injury, yet I witnessed the wholesale replacement of wheels and the outright theft of belongings from these vehicles,and done by the very people who where supposed to conserve and protect the dead or injured persons belongings, ie the police.

 

so perhaps I was educated early into the "goings on of the force"

 

KW

[ST3V3]

yet I witnessed the wholesale replacement of wheels and the outright theft of belongings from these vehicles,and done by the very people who where supposed to conserve and protect the dead or injured persons belongings, ie the police.

 

I used to repairs coaches and used to do a lot of accident recovery for the police and have to agree with kdubya the amount of times things disapeared from coaches was a little concerning when it only myself and the boys in blue that have been any where near I know for a fact it wasnt me so only leaves 1 option

[silpig5]

i cant get my head around all the posts involving arv's ect . living in a city like norwich and shooting 6 miles out of the city , ive never had any contact with a police man whilst out shooting . we often have the local bobby parked up near the barn having a pee and fag but never ever have i seen a blue light in vengance .

i admit to obtaining a cad number from police hq before lamping at night , but never bother if im taking my boy practicing over beat or target air rifling or even if i get up early and go for a rabbit wander .

i hope to never see the arv and i do feel for you guys who sport is brought to a stop on maNY occasions.

i guess people around my neck of the woods are used to seeing guns in fields and use there country knowledge be fore sending in the calvery. B)

 

hope you all have safe shooting and your neibours all get brains

adi

[tractorboy]

never had a problem with the plod while ouit shooting on my permissions seen the plod copter a few times buzz over and the army apaches fly over alot (now thats 1 mean beast you dont want to tangle with) so touch wood all is well in my neck of the woods

[Jim Sarakun]

After reading this thread I can thankfully surmise that I live in an area where the Police are calm, courteous, helpful, responsive and polite.

 

Having had the armed response team approach a buddy and myself on three occasions in the last 12 months, not yet have I had anything like the experiences reported in this post. I hope this trend continues. Maybe the local Police here have better training or are less gung ho when attending the "gun shots in a field" call outs.

 

Lancs Lad and jonevo have in my opinion given sound advice. I too make the phone call when shooting in sensitive areas. To define a sensitive area, it is the one where the Armed Response come to see you. Call them every time you shoot there after that first visit from them. Get that log in number.

 

I hasten to add that when the Armed Response do pay us an unexpected visit in an area we do not expect them, we too are VERY, VERY, Calm, Courteous, Helpful, Responsive and Polite.

[njc110381]

I'm not sure about throwing down my gun, but mud or not I'd have put it down. It's a lot easier to pick mud out of a gun action than it is to pick a 9mm bullet out of your body! These problems can be discussed later after you've ensured you're not going to be shot for not complying with their instructions. You have to consider that they are dealing with an unknown person who is carrying a tool that could easily kill them. You could have been a *****? At the end of the day a gun can be replaced, life can't.

 

I do feel for you. It's a lot of grief to go through in the pursuit of your (legal) hobby. I guess it's something we as shooters have to be prepared to face now and again. Luckily so far I never have, but with so many of my shoots near busy roads I think it's only a matter of time.

[Whizzy]

Just curious, taking it as all is legal etc. Do these suprise visits go down in the police logs as "firearms incidents" ?. If so, then it probably gets them more justification for the arv's and higher budgets ?..

[gixer1]

I see theres no response from the BASC in this thread...SHOCK HORROR!

[Mungler]

I see theres no response from the BASC in this thread...SHOCK HORROR!

 

What on earth are you on about?

 

There is no response from SACS, CA, etc so why single out BASC?

 

I didn't realise that BASC were omnipotent and required to respond to every thread on here. It is nice to see however that you recognise BASC as being the true guardians of all shooting and that SACS etc just aren't worth the bother of asking or approaching on this subject.

 

If you are a BASC member why don't you write to your local BASC representative and ask them that way

 

Most bizarre.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Mungler

[al4x]

theres also not a lot of common sense, its a simple job armed police ask you to drop your guns well you do or at least put them down. Personally unless you're prepared to get the first shot in which lets face it is a bad idea then you do as asked. Then you're reasonable and friendly and don't give them grief as although you're doing a legitimate past time they don't know that so they just need educating. Being reasonable and friendly makes it very hard to be difficult towards you then you clear up the reasons for their call and offer them a cup of tea and talk guns.

 

Hopefully with them being called out more and more to legitimate shooters they'll begin to know the difference between sporting shooters and drug dealers. The latter tend to wear less cammo and have nicer cars. I think BASC tried a press release with info to police forces recently but perhaps they can make a film to send out once their new recording studio is open. My general opinion of the police is that most are townies and don't have a clue about the countryside or shooting in general and can't be expected to know about all the intricacies surrounding firearms law as they don't come accross incidents very often. At least thats what I've heard from the few police I know even the SO19 officer I know didn't know one end of a shotgun from the other till he'd had a go.

[gixer1]

What on earth are you on about?

 

There is no response from SACS, CA, etc so why single out BASC?

 

I didn't realise that BASC were omnipotent and required to respond to every thread on here. It is nice to see however that you recognise BASC as being the true guardians of all shooting and that SACS etc just aren't worth the bother of asking or approaching on this subject.

 

If you are a BASC member why don't you write to your local BASC representative and ask them that way

 

Most bizarre.

 

 

I appologise, you're right...just a bug bear of mine and it was maybe a slight outburst....

 

but in response i have written many e-mails and such like to BASC with no result about other things...

[Killjoy]

At the end of the day, the police have a job to do with their safety the number 1 concern, agreed it could be some mad ***** with a shotgun / rifle who is poaching, who may fire shots in a bid to avoid her majesties hotel.

 

Although a bloke in tweeds, with a dog, at night with a lighthouse perched on top of his rifle??? a bit of common sense wouldn’t go a miss? Or some common courteously which officers seem to be missing these days.

 

At the end of the day, just remember the police are not above the law..

[DaveK]

What on earth are you on about?

 

There is no response from SACS, CA, etc so why single out BASC?

 

Probably because BASC is continually singled out as THE shooting organisation and bigged up at every opportunity by some.

 

Just an observation from an ex-BASC member.

[Mungler]

Probably because BASC is continually singled out as THE shooting organisation and bigged up at every opportunity by some.

 

Just an observation from an ex-BASC member.

 

That doesn't make any sense though does it?

 

So you are saying that BASC should have already commented and or taken action as a result of this thread? I saw a thread about Lee in VA's holiday - do we need BASC for a comment or some action on that thread?

 

I am sure the team within BASC that has been set up a dedicated forum board response unit will be along shortly, OR, BASC might be doing something else for their members and having not been directly asked by a BASC member to get involved have as yet not got involved.

 

I would ask that you take your concerns directly to BASC HQ but since your not a member they might well tell you to **** off and stop wasting their time and so go and bother the tin pot club you are in for their advice

[David BASC]

This is not an untypical scenario, and we get these on a weekly basis. The police are duty bound to investigate if a member of the public ‘sees someone with a gun’ and reports it, you cannot blame the police for responding, if there is any ‘blame’ it rests with the member of the public who over reacted in the first place.

 

A very good friend of mine, who I shoot with, is an armed response officer, he is very highly trained and when faced with an ‘incident’ the training kicks in and everything is done by the book, regardless of his ‘personal’ view. So I am 100% confident, if ever the ARU turned up to question me and even if my mate was the one pointing the H&K 9mm at my chest- I would do exactly as I was told!

 

OK it is a pian is the *** , but for most of us it is a once in a lifetime experience rather that a regular occurrence.

 

Finally, as I have said before, if anyone wants an urgent response from me on any issue for goodness sake let me know by calling me or e-mail my at the office!

 

D

[Mungler]

David, does BASC have any comment or statement to make in relation to Lee from VA coming back from his holiday or the keenly priced BSA superten in the sales section? The absence of a formal response or comment from BASC is making me question the renewal of my BASC membership for this forthcoming year.

Edited September 7, 2009 by Mungler

[DaveK]

That doesn't make any sense though does it?

 

So you are saying that BASC should have already commented and or taken action as a result of this thread? I saw a thread about Lee in VA's holiday - do we need BASC for a comment or some action on that thread?

 

I am sure the team within BASC that has been set up a dedicated forum board response unit will be along shortly, OR, BASC might be doing something else for their members and having not been directly asked by a BASC member to get involved have as yet not got involved.

 

I would ask that you take your concerns directly to BASC HQ but since your not a member they might well tell you to **** off and stop wasting their time and so go and bother the tin pot club you are in for their advice

 

Your reply doesn't make sense in the context of my post but does if linked to the previous mentions of BASC. I have no concerns about BASC at all, except that I'm not helping to pay for their communications centre. Did my reply suggest that I did? All I implied is that if people big it up as THE organisation to be with, it's not surprising that this will be used to justify standpoints on both sides of the fence. They're good at some things and less good at others.

 

Earlier someone said that BASC have recently started to educate the police. Sorry but they've been doing it for years and with what effect? I have some BASC leaflets from a few years ago that I give to police officers if I'm stopped (not too often I'm pleased to report).

 

Oh! and why is anything not BASC a "tin pot club"? You've made my point eloquently thanks Mung :mad:

[DaveK]

David, does BASC have any comment or statement to make in relation to Lee from VA coming back from his holiday or the keenly priced BSA superten in the sales section? The absence of a formal response or comment from BASC is making me question the renewal of my BASC membership for this forthcoming year.

 

Being rather anal today aren't we? Time of the month?

[al4x]

I am sure the team within BASC that has been set up a dedicated forum board response unit will be along shortly, OR, BASC might be doing something else for their members and having not been directly asked by a BASC member to get involved have as yet not got involved.

 

I thought that was part of Davids job he seems to be a member on pretty much every shooting forum about

 

though I imagine its a good form of free advertising and pr

[Mungler]

I was just expressing my amazement that everybody seems to consider that this is something that BASC should have acted on or reported on here on in circumstances where no one (either BASC member or non BASC member) actually reported it to a BASC representative.

 

The insinuation by the posters was that BASC was being slow to respond or somehow failing in their duties. I merely retorted that it was a rather high expectation of BASC to monitor all threads on this forum (and potentially other forums) from people who were not even in BASC and who had not sort to refer the matter to their own particular shooting organisation of choice.

 

Bizarre all round really.

[gixer1]

Being rather anal today aren't we? Time of the month?

 

 

Must be....

[gixer1]

I was just expressing my amazement that everybody seems to consider that this is something that BASC should have acted on or reported on here on in circumstances where no one (either BASC member or non BASC member) actually reported it to a BASC representative.

 

The insinuation by the posters was that BASC was being slow to respond or somehow failing in their duties. I merely retorted that it was a rather high expectation of BASC to monitor all threads on this forum (and potentially other forums) from people who were not even in BASC and who had not sort to refer the matter to their own particular shooting organisation of choice.

 

Bizarre all round really.

 

 

My point was that this type of thing is happening all too often and as a rep for hundreds of participants in the shooting world how come we have never read or heard BASC mention anything about this in the magazine they send me or possibly talking to the police on the matter to see if these "hands up and drop your weapon" times can be reduced.

 

Regards,

 

Gixer

Edited September 7, 2009 by gixer1

[DaveK]

I was just expressing my amazement that everybody seems to consider that this is something that BASC should have acted on or reported on here on in circumstances where no one (either BASC member or non BASC member) actually reported it to a BASC representative.

 

The insinuation by the posters was that BASC was being slow to respond or somehow failing in their duties. I merely retorted that it was a rather high expectation of BASC to monitor all threads on this forum (and potentially other forums) from people who were not even in BASC and who had not sort to refer the matter to their own particular shooting organisation of choice.

 

Bizarre all round really.

 

Now that I can agree with but it doesn't amaze me. It seems to be rather commonplace on the forums, often by non members trying to score points. I think there's a modicum of naivety as to the role of individual shooting organisations as well as what they offer and the conditions under which it is offered.

 

It concerns me though that some people are brainwashed into thinking there is no alternative.

[Mungler]

Now that I can agree with but it doesn't amaze me. It seems to be rather commonplace on the forums, often by non members trying to score points. I think there's a modicum of naivety as to the role of individual shooting organisations as well as what they offer and the conditions under which it is offered.

 

It concerns me though that some people are brainwashed into thinking there is no alternative.

 

 

But that's just hijacking a thread about an incident with an armed response unit to bash BASC.

 

I just thought it was a bit random and irrelevant, but now I see the motivation all has become clear.

[DaveK]

But that's just hijacking a thread about an incident with an armed response unit to bash BASC.

 

I just thought it was a bit random and irrelevant, but now I see the motivation all has become clear.

 

Are you reading the same version of English that I'm writing?

 

Where the hell on this topic have I bashed BASC?

 

I think, if you check back it's actually us that have hijacked the thread.

 

As for the motivation to bash BASC, it's rather obvious to see that every time it happens. It's also rather obvious when the opposite happens.

 

Back to the Armed Response then.