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

Geek wrote:, oh so true!

Read something somewhere (think it was an American forum) not too long ago about an American state, where the legislators restricted certain firearms / banned something, however, this restriction did not apply to them.

Dear member, and any other interested person,

Many of you have been asking about our fighting fund. As per my previous emails (which I won’t repeat now), we may need to start Judicial Review proceedings if the Home Office insist on pressing ahead with the proposed changes to .50 calibre firearms (or firearms that generate in excess of 10,000 ft/lbs). This will require barrister time and will be very expensive.

This fighting fund will be used to defend the FCSA’s primary concern – that of long distance .50 calibre target shooting. This will be extremely costly and therefore regrettably we cannot use this fund to also defend other firearm types that are currently under review, such as MARS rifles.

Several individuals have enquired as to why we are not also vigorously fighting to defend MARS type rifles. The reason is simple – these rifles are NOT what we as a club specialise in and we do not have the expert knowledge necessary to challenge the Home Office views. There are other clubs out there that do have the appropriate expertise and should take the lead on defending these firearms. We cannot fight everyone’s battle, if we attempt to do so then we will most likely fail on all fronts. Our expertise lies with large calibres and we need to be clear about this distinction. The FCSA is just that, the Fifty Calibre Shooters Association. We are not and cannot take on the role of being the overarching body to represent the whole shooting community, the role rightly held by the NRA.

We are clearly happy for any organisation fighting to retain the use of MARS rifles to use any of the points we have put forward previously regarding the Home Office “consultation document” that may be appropriate to their needs.

We have now set up a separate savings account which is ready to accept donations.

We can accept BACS transfers at any time, or cash and cheques at our range bookings.

Account details are as follows:

Sort code 20-97-90
Account: 43660605
Account name: FCSA

We will NOT need to use these funds until we have to pay legal fees, this will be AFTER the consultation is closed and any changes to firearms law that concern firearms capable of generating a muzzle energy in excess of 10,000 ft/lbs are proposed by the Home Office.

Any associated day to day costs incurred, such as travel expenses, but not legal fees, will be funded from the FCSA current account balance.

This way we can ensure that your donation is only spent on lawyer/barrister (legal professional) time.

Please ensure that you keep a record of your donation, the amount and the date of transfer. I suggest for your payment reference that you use your full name. The reason being is that if the funds are not required for any reason then we need to ensure refunds can be processed effectively – if requested.


Many thanks for your support,


Chris Stevenson
Chairman, FCSA (UK)

Blackstuff wrote:Its pretty ridiculous that an individual club is mounting the defence on their own, what's happened to the NRA, BASC or the ever elusive BSSC??

Has anyone actually heard anything from Caledonia Classic Arms and/or Bob Clarke/SGC?

dromia wrote:Divided we don't even stand.

This is just a fecking disgrace, one firearm type club talking about a judicial review of the part that effects them, presumably because the FCSA believ that they will not be properly represented by any "national" body. MARS lever release left by the way side with no one "national" seeming to be bothered.

I know that some of the "nationals" have made noises but what are they actually doing?

This is a national threat to all legal gun owners in the UK and should be fought and challenged in a unified and national way.

This is a real test for the "national" bodies and if they fail us on this one then what little credibility them may still have as being representative of legal gun owners will be shown to be their lie.

This outrageous and unfounded attack on legal gun owners should be challenged loudly and publicly, it isn't just about the guns but how the home office, the police and their anti legal gun owning cohorts just go around making up firearms legislation.