New laws coming?

[Tithras]

I emailed my MP a month or so ago and got a response today:
--
Dear xxxxxx

Thank you for contacting me about the Offensive Weapons Bill.

I can assure you that I am not opposed to the possession of firearms generally, and I certainly recognise that the overwhelming majority of firearms are used responsibly.

It is important to ensure more work is done to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities. I know the Government shares this position and is taking action to ensure the sale and possession of dangerous weapons is prevented.

I welcome the Serious Violence Strategy to help tackle recent increases in serious violence. This Government action supports a multi-strand approach including robust law enforcement, early intervention and prevention.

A key element of the strategy is the Offensive Weapons Bill. The Bill contains a range of measures to update and strengthen the law on the sale of corrosive substances, ban the delivery of knives and corrosives bought online to residential addresses and ban the possession of weapons including zombie knives, knuckle dusters and death stars both in public and private. The Bill will also make it harder for young people to buy knives and acid online.

I am concerned at measures in the Bill outlawing so called high energy rifles. I have made representations to the Minister and will seek to change the Bill to protect .50 calibre rifles to be used for target shooting.

Yours sincerely

Richard
--

I believe my MP is x forces so may have helped.

P

[snayperskaya]

I emailed my MP a month or so ago and got a response today:
--
Dear xxxxxx

Thank you for contacting me about the Offensive Weapons Bill.

I can assure you that I am not opposed to the possession of firearms generally, and I certainly recognise that the overwhelming majority of firearms are used responsibly.

It is important to ensure more work is done to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities. I know the Government shares this position and is taking action to ensure the sale and possession of dangerous weapons is prevented.

I welcome the Serious Violence Strategy to help tackle recent increases in serious violence. This Government action supports a multi-strand approach including robust law enforcement, early intervention and prevention.

A key element of the strategy is the Offensive Weapons Bill. The Bill contains a range of measures to update and strengthen the law on the sale of corrosive substances, ban the delivery of knives and corrosives bought online to residential addresses and ban the possession of weapons including zombie knives, knuckle dusters and death stars both in public and private. The Bill will also make it harder for young people to buy knives and acid online.

I am concerned at measures in the Bill outlawing so called high energy rifles. I have made representations to the Minister and will seek to change the Bill to protect .50 calibre rifles to be used for target shooting.

Yours sincerely

Richard
--

I believe my MP is x forces so may have helped.

P

Almost word for word the same response I got from my MP, although she did copy and paste a bit more......

[Pinguino]

Interesting facts from today's committee stage oral submissions regarding Offesnive Weapons Bill

Up to 31st March 2018

Total number of Firearms Certificates = 157,581
Total number of Firearms held = 577,547

Total number of Shotgun Certificates = 567,047
Total number of shotguns = 1,359,368

In 2018 so far, 39 rifles and 165 shotguns have been stolen from certificate holders

Total number of firearms with muzzle energy above 13,600 joules = 129

[Pinguino]

Mr National Crime Agency said that the .50 Browning cartridge is EFFECTIVE up to 6800m .....YES ......he said 6800m

[Strangely Brown]

Mr National Crime Agency said that the .50 Browning cartridge is EFFECTIVE up to 6800m .....YES ......he said 6800m

Did anybody put him straight?

[Sim G]

Trouble is, they will use the extreme to make their point. Effective at what? Effective in flight to actually reach that distance. Probably. I have a couple of books that state in the desert during WW2, .303 Vickers were used to harass the Germans out to 4000 yards. That was probably deemed “effective” in those circumstances. Have a ballistician say the same about something else, bingo, instant scary “fact” for the committee!!!

[JSC]

Mr National Crime Agency said that the .50 Browning cartridge is EFFECTIVE up to 6800m .....YES ......he said 6800m

Did anybody put him straight?

He was there to effectively be the 'expert witness'. The MPs will just accept what he and the other witnesses said.

The point was also made that a .50 is capable of material destruction with regular ball ammo. My understanding was that AP ammo is needed to penetrate body armour/engine blocks etc.

I'm not an expert on .50 ballistics, so what is a .50 capable of with non-AP ammo?

[Daryll]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdgQ0OSZqOo

[JSC]

I thought the NRA were organising for some independent testing to be done to show what .50 was capable of with S1 ammunition.

What happened with that?

[Laurie]

I thought the NRA were organising for some independent testing to be done to show what .50 was capable of with S1 ammunition.

What happened with that?

Do you really want someone to show a bunch of MPs just what the 50BMG can do at what ranges? Can you inagine what a SUN journo' would make of such a demo hearing about it? Bearing in mind that the 50 was one of the founder cartridges used in the KO2M (King of Two Miles) annual comp and has been overtaken by much more ballistically adept cartridges in a mere three years, eg the 375 Cheytac and this year's winner the 418 Barrett, any such demonstration would scare the pants off a typical MP. .......... and when they hear that there are 375, forty-cal and 416s that outshoot the big 50 at this and yet longer ranges, then the demand for them to go too will follow in short order.

I've just finished reading / rereading a whole series of histories of the Korean War, and one of the features mentioned in several was the awesome destructive power of the halftrack mounted quad 50BMG M2s, an anti-aircraft weapon used in the ground role. Its use alone probably swung the balance against the North Koreans in the desperate fighting along the Nactong River frontline of the Pusan Perimeter in August / September 1950 that came within an ace of the US/UN forces being driven into the sea.

In the very early days of F-Class when the standard NRA 2-MOA target was still in use and standards were way lower than today's I was chatting to a major player in the specialised shooting equipment supply business behind the firing point of a Diggle 1,000 yards F comp. He said then, and I agreed then and do so even more now, that he hoped to hell that nobody was stupid enough to invite HO officials and MPs to such a competition. If they saw how shot after shot was going into a 20-inch circle (read 10 inches now), not only would such rifles be banned within months but so would the riflescopes that allow those hits to be made and probably handloading too!