The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Thats fair enough - at least you have made your views known to them.

Out of interest Adam how recently have you been in contact with the NRA?

I gave up communicating with the NRA years ago, mainly because there was no response to my queries/offers. I am no longer a member.

In my opinion the NRA has failed to support UK shooting in so many areas, I have lost count frankly.
It also failed abysmally to listen to businesses and shooters.

Having said that I am really pleased that the shooters who live relatively close by benefit from the changes that have taken place at Bisley over the last few years.

I guess it is a pro and con situation, on which side of the fence and all that.

I think my last "discussion" with them was three to four years ago.

It was with that numpty of a chief exec.

dromia wrote:I think my last "discussion" with them was three to four years ago.

It was with that numpty of a chief exec.

Like you I was not impressed.

How fast can one make money without a thought to how many people that are being bulldozed in the process - that was the impression I got.

christel wrote:

dromia wrote:I think my last "discussion" with them was three to four years ago.

It was with that numpty of a chief exec.

Like you I was not impressed.

How fast can one make money without a thought to how many people that are being bulldozed in the process - that was the impression I got.

I am still not able to get my head around the NRA being a charity AND there to make a profit !

Pardon me but I thought the idea of a charity was to take in donations etc and use them to serve the group they are helping. Not to make a profit out of them ?

breacher wrote:

christel wrote:

dromia wrote:I think my last "discussion" with them was three to four years ago.

It was with that numpty of a chief exec.

Like you I was not impressed.

How fast can one make money without a thought to how many people that are being bulldozed in the process - that was the impression I got.

I am still not able to get my head around the NRA being a charity AND there to make a profit !

Pardon me but I thought the idea of a charity was to take in donations etc and use them to serve the group they are helping. Not to make a profit out of them ?

Hmm...good point however somehow the money has to be found for the various salaries.

All charities need to make a profit.
They need to cover OPEX before they can do the charitable work or expand / invest in assets
The charitable status helps with income tax, VAT & Rates.

toffe wrapper wrote:All charities need to make a profit.
They need to cover OPEX before they can do the charitable work or expand / invest in assets
The charitable status helps with income tax, VAT & Rates.

True however in this case it also means the NRA can say no to support a case/situation because it is a charity and can't/won't be political.

I really do not understand the UK NRA, perhaps I ought to have a chat with Iain one day.

christel wrote:

toffe wrapper wrote:All charities need to make a profit.
They need to cover OPEX before they can do the charitable work or expand / invest in assets
The charitable status helps with income tax, VAT & Rates.

True however in this case it also means the NRA can say no to support a case/situation because it is a charity and can't/won't be political.

I really do not understand the UK NRA, perhaps I ought to have a chat with Iain one day.

I'm here. Have you any idea how it makes staff feel to see the level of abusive untruth on this site?

Just to give you a feel for it. The NRA is a fairly small organisation. The NRA delivery staff, as distinct from the necessary office staff doing reception, IT, accounts, personnel and suchlike and the 30-something staff who run one of the three biggest private range complexes in the world, and the only one with a significant accommodation / property estate attached, is about 14 people. My job titles include: Safety, Legal & Technical Officer; Secretary to the Shooting Committee; Secretary to the Disciplinary Body; Technical Investigations Co-ordinator. I have something over twenty projects or tasks in progress on my desk, plus the daily round of people needing advice on FAC applications / medical letters / why a club can't have an LBR / vistors permits that never arrive overseas / visitors permits that have one digit wrong on the date of birth / visitors permits that start one day after the flight arrives (I have worked the last eight days straight, nine hours of that has been either driving to and from, sitting around or negotiating with Border Force at Heathrow (and BTW the BF guys on the front line are unfailingy polite and as helpful as they can be within the direction they've been given)). I spent the rest of the weekend analysing an issue that started from a fairly minor range issue but has caused MoD concern, identifying the failings and putting down on paper how we are going to fix them. This sort of thing goes on all the time and without it civilians would have been thrown off MoD ranges years ago. That's taken all of today not taken up by shuffling a visiting overseas team's firearms between armouries and through the NRAs dealership so that their unorthodox import doesn't cause problems down the line. I've listened to a member who needed an EFP, and listened to the firearms licensing manager who is so desperately short of resources he wouldn't issue one unless it was really needed. I've listened to a member who rants about police failings, not realising that by doing so he undermines his own position that they have been unfair in removing his firearms. I've done a dozen other things that I can't provide details at all, other than to say that if all our members and all our affiliated clubs followed the rules I wouldn't have to do any of it. All of that in the past 7 days. At the end of it I have more to do than at the start. Including safety design on at least five ranges, none of whose operators can provide the complete information to answer the questions and all of which are at least 200 miles from Bisley where I both work and live so there's no point in going to visit until we have done all that can be done by plans, photographs, clear intentions and analysis. Next week I'll probably be in court for three days on behalf of a member. And so it goes on.

Perhaps you ought to have a chat, indeed.

Iain