50 cal ban dropped?

[Fedaykin]

The problem is whilst indeed neither LR or MARS rifles were used in the Charlie Hebdo attack the Sa Vz.58 was. As the MARS is basically the same rifle with some detail changes to how the bolt is released it is guilt by association.

It was very easy for the Antis (helped by some ill advised videos on Youtube) to spin to MPs that the same or very similar rifle was involved.

The legislation that led to the very existence of the LR/MARS rifles in the first place is an utter dogs dinner, unfortunately any attempt to streamline it is interpreted by Prof Squires, Mark Groothuis (with his handy list of what he would like banned), MAG (all four of them), NABIS and Continuity ACPO as 'BAN THEM'!

[safetyfirst]

<ungrump>
Dromia, you know if you’ve read my posts that I’m not an anti and that I find the legislation severely lacking in common sense and basis but to say that Lever Release and MARS mechanisms were not an attempt to regain losses inflicted by legislation is a very charitable point of view.....

Don’t be disappointed in my opinions, I’m one of the shooters that have written a letter in support of such firearms!

</ungrump>

[dromia]

Of course it was a legal attempt to provide some thing as close as legally possible to that which we lost, to say it was outwith the spirit of the legislation is wrong since the spirit of the legislation should surely be public safety balanced with peoples desire to pursue legal activities, legislation proportionate to the risk. However the real spirit of UK legislation is to ban totally the legal ownership of firearms of any sort, along with hope of cynically gathering votes in the process.

These firearms actions are either legally acceptable or not and it was decided that they were so slots were granted, guns were made, purchased and safely enjoyed. Now all of a sudden they have become some mythical threat for no other reason than some people with some power and influence wish to pursue their own personal agenda at the expense of legal gun owners, for legal gun owners to have any sympathy with these corrupt officials and their position is outrageous to me.

Another case of tolerance being shafted by intolerance.

Sorry, I know that you are no anti, but I hear this kind of talk from far too many legal gun owners and it really gets my back up. These champions (NABIS/NPCC) of anti legal gun ownership dogma need to be challenged at every opportunity and shown publicly and to those in power over them for what they are and no legal gun owner should give them or their bigoted arguments credence and oxygen at any time and take every opportunity to challenge their spurious and unfounded accusations.

[safetyfirst]

Oh I hear your cry, it’s all aimed in the right direction, if you’ll pardon the pun. I doubt the powers that be will see it your way sadly.

I once had a chat with a chap about using a co2 canister to work the action on a rifle, activated by either a button push or recoil.

Is that counted as a propellant gas?

Teanews etc.

[dromia]

I doubt they will hear my voice or if the do take any heed, however if it was multiplied co-ordinated and lead at a national level with an ongoing campaign rather than our half hearted, knee jerk, reactive responses which delivers nothing for legal gun owners that our insipid national organisations flounder around with hoping to give the illusion that they are doing something.

Still being a lone voice should not stop me saying and standing by that which I believe and my view has just as much value as any one else's and my argument certainly carries more reasoned weight than the anti's.

[Rarms]

What about the MARs and lever release, are they the sacrifice for the 50 being dropped?

I would assume its because the fifty cal association put together a proper lobby, and BASC probably just nodded and agreed with the ban!

Damn! and there was me thinking BASC had been lobbying members to fight the ban for at least a year now ? just goes to show eh?

Kenny, I guess I was a bit tongue in cheek about BASC, but the fifty cal association given that there are probably less than 200 members must have really put a fight forward and it obviously paid off.

I submitted a response to the government consultation for the lever releases, and wrote to my MP about it, but BASC having a page on their website where they advise they are opposed to the new legislation does not signify real action on their part...

I think I heard more from BASC about the ban of pheasant shooting in Wales than I did about the lever release ban, and I heard somewhere that the welsh ban only immediately affected 2 shoots who didn't have long leases!

[Pete]

50 cal or MARS/LR...........permitting possession in the first place without due diligence, and then a year or so later saying no you can't have them is totally out of order.
Pete

[Mattnall]

I believe there is an amendment or clarification of wording that separates MARS from LR.

Something about using the trigger only to reload.

I heard about that, anyone know what happen to that? Has the Verney carron speedlines to the rescue?

The only recent amendment I've seen is this change in wording:

The current wording (regarding which firearms are prohibited) is:

"any rifle with a chamber from which empty cartridge cases are extracted using—
(i)energy from propellant gas, or
(ii)energy imparted to a spring or other energy storage
device by propellant gas,
other than a rifle which is chambered for .22 rim-fire cartridges;”

The proposed amendment would change it to this:

"any, other than a rifle which is chambered for rim fire cartridges, which ejects an empty
cartridge case using energy which comes (directly or indirectly) from propellant gas and
subsequently chambers a cartridge by mechanical means through the operation of the
firing trigger mechanism alone.”

Now, to me at least, this is not a very well worded amendment, but it appears to be trying to give LR rifles a chance.

But it is not in the Bill until it's considered and voted in and the earliest chance of that is next Wednesday.

That's the one, the proposed changing of the wording will separate MARS from LR if it gets adopted (or whatever the process is called)

[Gazza]

I once had a chat with a chap about using a co2 canister to work the action on a rifle, activated by either a button push or recoil.

Is that counted as a propellant gas?

Teanews etc.

Probably yes, but electronically controlled solenoid wouldn't be

[safetyfirst]

That was our thought, tap into the gas block and just send a burst of compressed gas into the system. Temperature would be an issue for sure.

It was a fun conversation.