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

I came home from a long day at the range to this news.
This beer is not being drunk in celebration I can tell you that.

Dark Skies wrote: In my collection I have an old US 1918 trench knife that would apparently fall foul of the new legislation.

If you're referring to the LF & C type knife I have one of those two. Supposedly though this ban would not apply to antiques.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home ... s-violence

Looks like it's a go

James048 wrote:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home ... s-violence

Looks like it's a go

"The Home Office has also added sulphuric acid to the list of regulated explosives precursors that come under the Poisons Act 1972. This will mean that members of the public will require a licence to acquire, possess and use the substance."

I can see the knock on effect of this piece of legislation will knock on the head the purchase of affordable batteries for motorcycles. These commonly come with a a charge load of acid that you have to up end into a new battery shell to activate. The price between a budget battery for my Harley and a genuine or good quality gel battery can easily be as much as £100 notes.
Scumbags, of course, will just surreptitiously punch a hole in a battery lying in a pile in a scrapyard - or half inch someone's battery in a car park if they really are determined to get their hands on acid.

There are plenty of other nasty, corrosive substances readily available of course. As always, laws of this sort have very little effect other than to punish or inconvenience those who aren't looking to cause any harm to anyone.

There is still some way to go before any changes are made to the current legislation.

The 'Serious violence strategy' has been published today.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... e-strategy

From page 82 there is mention of the recent consultation and possible new legislation but the key remark is this:

"These measures are currently being considered for new legislation, subject to Parliamentary time."

My prediction is they will push through some of the acid and knife legislation but get so bogged down with the detail on the firearms legislation, they won't have time to get it through Parliament.

Very vague frankly, no mention at all of 'Material Destruction Rifles' something they were making a big fuss about at the beginning of the consultation. They do mention an uptick in the number of firearm related offences in the last few years yet they also mention that it is 43% lower than fifteen years ago. Annex 8 is also worth noting when considering that small rise in firearms related offences:

Annex 8: There are two elements to the better recording of firearms offences. The first relates to inclusion of offences involving low
powered weapons such as BB guns, which previously may not have been recorded. The second reflects an increase in
possession of a firearm with intent offences, which previously may have been recorded as simple possession offences,
which are not included in this collection.

Fedaykin wrote:Very vague frankly, no mention at all of 'Material Destruction Rifles' something they were making a big fuss about at the beginning of the consultation. They do mention an uptick in the number of firearm related offences in the last few years yet they also mention that it is 43% lower than fifteen years ago. Annex 8 is also worth noting when considering that small rise in firearms related offences:

The home office are now aware that there is no such thing as a "Material Destruction Rifle" the capability is generated by the ammunition and as AP, API, APIT and HE are all section 5 it's just a target rifle.

After all if I fire jelly out of a 105mm it won't go through armour :)

Whatever happened to the Violent Crime Reduction Act that was meant to stop all this

They can fart about all day long but until they grow some and deal with those responsible - and the know who they are - instead of running scared all the time, then they will continue to shaft the law abiding to fool the gullibles into thinking that "something is being done".

Where are all those armed plods (C-MEN) that are meant to be keeping everyone safe - where are they at these days??? It's all just another sick joke and waste of money! There is NO will or wish to resolve these problems because they can use those issues to screw the law abiding - i.e.YOU LOT for example!

Now if they had only called their victims names or defended themselves against burglars who SHOUULD have been caught a long timeago they'd be rounded up by now!!

Chuck wrote:Whatever happened to the Violent Crime Reduction Act that was meant to stop all this

They can fart about all day long but until they grow some and deal with those responsible - and the know who they are - instead of running scared all the time, then they will continue to shaft the law abiding to fool the gullibles into thinking that "something is being done".

Where are all those armed plods (C-MEN) that are meant to be keeping everyone safe - where are they at these days??? It's all just another sick joke and waste of money! There is NO will or wish to resolve these problems because they can use those issues to screw the law abiding - i.e.YOU LOT for example!

Now if they had only called their victims names or defended themselves against burglars who SHOUULD have been caught a long timeago they'd be rounded up by now!!

To answer your question as to what they are doing, here's the total number of police officers in England & Wales over time. Compared with 2004, there are around 17,000 less Police officers despite having a growing population.

Year | Total No. of Police Officers England & Wales
2004 | 140,563
2005 | 142,794
2006 | 143,271
2007 | 142,374
2008 | 142,363
2009 | 144,274
2010 | 144,235
2011 | 139,585
2012 | 134,580
2013 | 129,956
2014 | 128,346
2015 | 127,485
2016 | 124,368
2017 | 123,507

Source "Research Briefings"
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http ... N02615.pdf