New laws coming?

[joe]

BASC has 150,000 members and I'd wager that the vast majority of those are sporting SGC/FAC holders rather than target shooters.
The NRA UK has 23,000 members.
The CPSA has 15,000 members
The NSRA has around 5000.

In the UK there are 153,600 FAC's and 582,500 SGC's (some will have both)

Its clear to me that the big organisations are hardly scratching the surface of the shooting population in the UK.

thats for england and wales only NOT whole of the UK

[Rockhopper]

Correct, but that makes the overall picture even worse as the club membership figures are as a whole so possibly even include people who live overseas.

[dromia]

These organisations have no relevance to the majority of shooters.

BASC members are mostly with then for the insurance, the NRA members will be mostly to access Bisley and I am surprised that the NSRA has that many members.

At the end of the day none of these organisations will see these proposals as a threat to their core business, (i.e their jobs) so at best they will go through the motions and then bend over for us when the shafting goes through parliament.

There can be no other explanation when they refuse to mobilise their own membership let alone the whole shooting community other than a wilful dereliction of their duty towards legal gun owners.

[joe]

These organisations have no relevance to the majority of shooters.

BASC members are mostly with then for the insurance, the NRA members will be mostly to access Bisley and I am surprised that the NSRA has that many members.

At the end of the day none of these organisations will see these proposals as a threat to their core business, (i.e their jobs) so at best they will go through the motions and then bend over for us when the shafting goes through parliament.

There can be no other explanation when they refuse to mobilise their own membership let alone the whole shooting community other than a wilful dereliction of their duty towards legal gun owners.

well it wont be just shooters who will be crying when the NRA will be forced by (either total gun ban or whatever) to hand back bisley to the MOD for the use for the militray and police ONLY but of course the sheep (90% of the uk mainland) will be happy and prise the government for taking away evil guns from gun nuts

[Hrun]

Amusing shooting news article. Says not even the "internet people" are bothered about the ban, yet there is 74 pages here and I have not seen one single person say they support the proposed ban??

But, how many FB members have posted on those 74 pages, and more importantly how many have completed the consultation or contacted their MP?

To update, I met mine on Friday..

It was useful and as I expected. She was surprised what a minority we are and disappointedly optomistic it might fall flat, even though I pointed out it was being slipped in along some mostly sensible stuff about acid which means most MP's are likely to rubber stamp it.

It was useful for me to understand parliamentary process. At this stage responding to the consultation is the only practical action to take.

Once it goes to committee stage MP's will be appointed to look at it, and she suggested there are many MP's that shoot who will take an interest (I didn't bother pointing out that would be mostly shotgun and a rifle ban wouldn't bother them). Whilst she admitted she would not campaign against it for me as she is busy with the Dr stuff that interests her, she did say she would in due course forward a letter from me to someone involved with a covering letter which at least means it will be read.

She was also surprised I was taking an interest despite not owning a rifle covered by the proposal until I pointed out it is a slippery slope and I will eventually have no-one to stand up for my rights..

[Hrun]

For anyone still interested..

https://ukshootingnews.wordpress.com/20 ... -launched/

[Oddbod]

TBH if you are "older" and don't use the internet that much how are you going to know. There has been nothing in the press about the ban.
I know there is a "community" in most clubs but you often find each discipline will keep themselves to themselves and often there is a disconnect between them.

This is the sad truth.

The best we could have hoped for is for the BASC, NRA etc. to have sent a letter through the post to all it's members and to all club secretaries asking for the situation to be communicated to everyone they know. It would have cost them a some printing and postage. In turn, that could have generated a significant additional number of letters being written to MPs.

I've had no letters through the post.

Even a bloody email from BASC or the NRA alerting their members to this riduculous proposal would have been something.

But not a squeak...

[TattooedGun]

TBH if you are "older" and don't use the internet that much how are you going to know. There has been nothing in the press about the ban.
I know there is a "community" in most clubs but you often find each discipline will keep themselves to themselves and often there is a disconnect between them.

This is the sad truth.

The best we could have hoped for is for the BASC, NRA etc. to have sent a letter through the post to all it's members and to all club secretaries asking for the situation to be communicated to everyone they know. It would have cost them a some printing and postage. In turn, that could have generated a significant additional number of letters being written to MPs.

I've had no letters through the post.

Even a bloody email from BASC or the NRA alerting their members to this riduculous proposal would have been something.

But not a squeak...

I'm not even a member, but I received something from the NRA...

The latest from NRA on 21st November:

Update - Home Office Consultation – “Offensive Weapons”

We have recently received further clarification on the Home Office proposals to prohibit two types of firearms (.50 calibre and VZ58 MARS) which included the following details:-

(1) The .50 calibre proposals have been extended to include “other similar high power, long range rifles”; furthermore in an attempt to differentiate between ‘anti-materiel’ type firearms and those used for sporting purposes the Home Office are contemplating imposing a 10,000ft lbs muzzle energy limit.

(2) The VZ58 MARS proposals have been extended to include any “rapid firing rifles” that “employs a Manually Actuated Release System capable of achieving a similar rate of fire”; they have confirmed that their proposals do not extend to self-loading rifles chambered for .22 rimfire cartridges. The Home Office has not provided a definitive description of Manually Actuated Release System so we do not understand precisely which rifles are at risk of prohibition.

These clarifications fundamentally change the terms of the Public Consultation which clearly stated the Government proposals were to solely prohibit the ownership of:

(1) “.50 calibre ‘materiel destruction’ rifles of a type developed for use by the military to allow for shooting over long distances for example, to enable sniping at long ranges and in a manner capable of damaging vehicles and other equipment (referred to in military terms as 'materiel') “ and

(2) “ rapid firing rifles, such as the VZ 58 Manually Actuated Release System (MARS) rifle…because a second pull of the trigger is required to discharge a round”.

We believe these changes to the scope of firearms proposals means that Consultation is fundamentally flawed and should be abandoned or re-issued as a separate document, with full details of what is proposed and an accurate re-working of the Impact Assessment. This is a direct consequence of launching such proposals without prior engagement with shooting organisations.

Once again I urge all NRA members and friends in the shooting community to register your concerns with the Home Office by 9th December 2017 directly by email to Offensive.Weapons.Consultation@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; you may wish to copy your local MP. These proposals may appear to present distant threats to your own type of shooting; however they have been poorly presented, are not evidence based and, if left unchallenged, will leave a dangerous legacy for the shooting community. When drafting any firearms legislation a primary consideration must be to ensure that the scope of its application is clear and the rules are consistent, so that the honest citizen is not left at the mercy of inconsistent application of the law.

It is worth remembering that this is not a dry and impersonal matter; please read the message I recently received below from a concerned NRA member.

“This disability has had a profound effect on my life. It has cut me off and isolated me from my old life. So four years ago I joined my local shooting club, partly to give me a reason to get out of the house and mix with others, but also to reconnect with a sport I had competed in at school. I was blessed in that my local club is a very encouraging and enthusiastic place, covering many shooting disciplines.

Once I'd gained my firearms certificate, a year after joining the club; I decided to look for my first fullbore rifle. It became clear through discussion with senior club members that the MARS action rifle would be ideal for me given my disability.

My parents, realising the positive effect target shooting was having on me, purchased a .223 calibre rifle for me. That was over two years ago and to this day, it remains my only fullbore rifle, which I shoot as often as my disability allows me. It’s a pleasure to use and allows me to shoot without breaking my grip, something that would be impossible for me to do with off hand shooting, even seated off hand shooting and very difficult for me when bench rest shooting.

The MARS action is a mechanism I use to allow me to accurately shoot a rifle at target. Like the walking stick I use in busy places or the stool I sit on in my shower, it plays an all important part in allowing me to carry on doing things I need and/or want to do.

I would really like to be able to carry on using my MARS action rifle. I would not stop shooting, I would just stop fullbore shooting and going to Bisley. I think that would not only be a great shame, but also unfair.

I am practical and pragmatic in my response to my disability. The MARS action rifle is my response to that approach and works very well for me.”


Andrew Mercer
Group Chief Executive & Secretary General

[Alpha1]

I have had emails from the NRA regarding this issue.

[Alpha1]

http://nra-mail.org.uk/interface/extern ... dium=email