A return of Handguns, a discussion.

[HALODIN]

Excellent posts dromia! 10/10.

[karen]

There already is an umbrella organisation, yet another national body :roll: , that meets 3 or four times a year the, British Shooting Sports Council.

http://www.bssc.org.uk/the-british-shoo ... ssc-today/

However it leadership and dynamism is well hidden if in existence at all, I suspect that this is a reflection of its constituent bodies moribundity on the leadership issue rather than its sole fault.

You "suspect" but you don't actually know!

BSSC does a hell of a lot of good work behind the scenes - no "moribundity" there.

Please find out the actual facts before criticising an organisation.

A few years ago Sport England put a not insubstantial amount of money into consultants to help the Bisley based national bodies to merge, the NATSS initative. However true to form the NRA,CPSA and the NSRA couldn't agree on anything and the initiative went nowhere except lining some faceless consultants pockets. Thus are shooters served by our representatives.

There has been plenty of discussion on this topic already, a search will no doubt reveal the sorry state of national representation.

Again you really do not know what you are talking about - I was there and I know what happened. Nothing to do with the NRA, NSRA and CPSA not agreeing on anything (that is a fairly sweeping statement by itself). There were reasons why certain aspects wouldn't work but there were ways around them. We agreed on a lot of stuff!

You are correct about "lining some faceless consultants pockets" but they weren't shooters - just chancers who saw us coming! Unfortunately coupled with certain peoples private agendas it all went tits up not because those at the top of the NRA, NSRA and CPSA didn't want it but because ordinary members like us saw it for what it was.

And of course we already had "NATSS" under another name - its called British Shooting (previously GBTSF).

I am not willing to name names or put specifics on a public forum but the NATSS plan was a dangerous concept to the future of "target shooting".

I am all in favour of the National Bodies working together in the future but NATSS was NOT the way forward and we have been very lucky it was canned!

Karen

[karen]

The vested self interest of our "national" bodies is a shameful disgrace that perpetrates their own pathetic existences on the plight of gun ownership and shooting in the UK. These turkeys will never give up their perceived positions of "power", their self importance and their salaries for the good and furtherance of shooting in the UK by forming a unified national voice that promotes gun ownership and leads a proactive agenda on the issue, until that happens we will all continue to be victims. All our energy, ideas and enthusiasm will be dissipated, diluted and demeaned by the fragmented representation of our "national" shooting (notice not gun ownership) organisations.

This is one of the nastiest things you have ever written.

[karen]

IAll our energy, ideas and enthusiasm will be dissipated, diluted and demeaned by the fragmented representation of our "national" shooting (notice not gun ownership) organisations.

I am a shooter. I go shooting. I use a rifle to shoot with. I wish to belong to a shooting organisation that helps me to enjoy this sport.

I am not interested in belonging to a "gun ownership" organisation.

My rifle is not something to be "possessed" - I am not interested in owning a collection of rifles - I just want to shoot at targets with my friends on all sorts of lovely ranges and have a good time.

I do not denigrate those who want to belong to a more Americanised gun ownership organisation - I do not expect other shooters to denigrate me for wanting to belong to a shooting organisation.

[Steve E]

IAll our energy, ideas and enthusiasm will be dissipated, diluted and demeaned by the fragmented representation of our "national" shooting (notice not gun ownership) organisations.

I am a shooter. I go shooting. I use a rifle to shoot with. I wish to belong to a shooting organisation that helps me to enjoy this sport.

I am not interested in belonging to a "gun ownership" organisation.

My rifle is not something to be "possessed" - I am not interested in owning a collection of rifles - I just want to shoot at targets with my friends on all sorts of lovely ranges and have a good time.

I do not denigrate those who want to belong to a more Americanised gun ownership organisation - I do not expect other shooters to denigrate me for wanting to belong to a shooting organisation.

Nail hit firmly on the head Karen.

[dromia]

However we wish to pursue our interest in firearms, whatever discipline, sport, collecting whatever, the crux of the issue in relation to government and the country is about how we own guns not how we use them, I denigrate no-one for wanting to shoot and own guns.

However so long as we are divided around what and how we shoot with factionalised "national" organisations then will always be at the mercy of the whim of government and the mob, it is gun ownership that binds us all and that is the agenda we need to unify around because that is the issue that threatens us all.

If the BSSC does such good work why don't they shout about it more? Why don't they take the fight to government and seek the support of shooters?

[karen]

If the BSSC does such good work why don't they shout about it more? Why don't they take the fight to government and seek the support of shooters?

Have you read their website?

http://www.bssc.org.uk/

Click on Aims

[dromia]

Admirable indeed, but what tangible outcomes do they seek?

[Sim G]

I am a shooter. I go shooting. I use a rifle to shoot with. I wish to belong to a shooting organisation that helps me to enjoy this sport.

I am not interested in belonging to a "gun ownership" organisation.

My rifle is not something to be "possessed" - I am not interested in owning a collection of rifles - I just want to shoot at targets with my friends on all sorts of lovely ranges and have a good time.

I do not denigrate those who want to belong to a more Americanised gun ownership organisation - I do not expect other shooters to denigrate me for wanting to belong to a shooting organisation.

Well be prepared in that case to find some other outdoor spaces to enjoy some other activity with your friends, for surely, successive legislators will kill your sport, whilst your "representative" body has neither the where-with-all or resources to prevent it.

And your position within the NRA is...?

[Chuck]

I am not interested in belonging to a "gun ownership" organisation.

My rifle is not something to be "possessed" - I am not interested in owning a collection of rifles - I just want to shoot at targets with my friends on all sorts of lovely ranges and have a good time.

Sorry Karen, by that quote I think you are on the wrong side of the fence here. If no one "cares about owning a gun" (I assume you happily borrow "club guns or whatever) then there will be NO place to shoot them because there will be none to be shot if everyone took that view. ONE rifle is a collection, and if YOU do not own it then who does? What you're saying is you do not NEED your OWN gun, right??

Summed up as long as someone else own a gun that I can shoot and play all day what's the worry, when they go away / get confiscated I will just move on to something else??.Those who are more enthusiastic will just have to lump it?

No offence Karen, you're not exactly pro gun with that statement are you?