Labour: gun applicants must "prove suitability"

[Hauptman]

Excellent article..........

H/man

[mag41uk]

Very good article.
I would like to see this in some shooting mags and on other shooting websites.
NRA Journal?
Tony

[Dougan]

That really is very good Gaz - All the necessary details without repetition or rhetoric...

...and deserves wider publication.

[whoowhoop]

I have been following this thread with a mixture of both interest and resignation.
We as a body, have not really ever stood together to face any threat.
Despite the increased restrictions which do affect us all, there has never been any organising of the various and disparate branches which link us all together.
Most of us on this forum are club members, some even pay to national organisations.
Any of us been contacted to show our support?
We can really learn from the pro hunting organisations, and not just the CA.

One thing that hunts learnt when dealing with the media was to have a single appointed point of media contact, competent and able to deal with any enquiry. Far better than having anybody else giving their own version.
Does your club know who the members local MP's are? Do you know their position on firearms? Would you be pin a position to invite them to a safe club night?
Has your club asked you to write to or even better, visit your MP's surgery?
Does your club have good contacts with the other clubs of similar interest in your area? Not just full or small bore clubs, but air rifle, FT clubs, airsoft, etc . Think of scouts and other groups. Do you have a father and son/daughter night?
Do you have a local press contact?
All this, and more will make you seem less lime a closed group of dangerous weirdos and more like the genuine
, family oriented club that you are.
Make a point of being a point of contact, so that when a scary gun story is in the offing, you get to speak about it.
Does your club have anyone who will visit the local WI or similar groups to give a talk on what you do and why you like doing it?
Has your club made contact with the various national bodies to ask what your club can do to help?
If not, then why the #### not? And if the national body says they don't want help, tell them they ain' t doing the job they've paid to.
It's no good sitting back and saving for your next rifle if you can't ever shoot the bloody thing.
All of us should be shouting in our committee members ears that we desperately need to fund the next fight before it happens.
No money to pay for such fripperies?
Don't be so tight, next range fee, add 50p for the "fund". We need to be able to have a fighting fund before we need to use it. Each competition card, add £1. Renewal of club subs? Add £10. Hold a monthly raffle for a free shoot. There are loads of ways to raise funds - hold a club night, no shooting, cheap entry and have a guest speaker or two or an MP to give their view.Ask the local press along. Hold a different comp - get the small bore club to shot clays or practical. Sponsor a member of another club to come along to join your squad for a night. The possibilities are endless.
Can't afford it?
You bloody well will be able to when it is all lost.
It's the responsibility of all of us to stand together to be ready to face the next fight. It is not the job of someone else.
All of us who get that strange enjoyment of being able to own or use any sort of firearm, be it black, camo, pink or a SOWR face the same threat.
What peeves me is that so many in our ranks do not think to spare even a penny in defence of their own chosen branch of sport, let alone consider the sport of others. So you can bet they do not even know what is legal anymore. We need to bring in those on the fringes as well .
Until we are all stood together, we have not got a hope in hell


Rant over - I will shout at my club to do something, I will also speak to all of the dealers I patronize to see what they will be prepared to fund. No shooters - no business.
Look to the future, my friends.

[Blu]

Well, I've started doing what little I can to stand up for shooting in the way I know best. "Firearms licensing needs a proper review, not kneejerk reactions to Labour strawmen" http://thebackbencher.co.uk/firearms-li ... -strawmen/

Not bad Gaz, not bad at all. Just got to get that same message out nationally now. Just one thing mate, if you can try and avoid using the word "shooters" to describe yourselves, this is something the US NRA picked up on, there is the danger that it can be interpreted wrongly by folks reading it. Instead use the word "sportsmen and women", after all shooting is recognized sport. It just seems to go across better.

Blu

[Blue Lizard]

That really is very good Gaz - All the necessary details without repetition or rhetoric...

...and deserves wider publication.

+1 :goodjob:

Have shared this article via my Facebook page - to add to the various snippets of my sporting (shooting!) enjoyment that I try and incorporate into the FB flow of everyday life. The key is to have recreational shooting recognised and respected as something that 'normal' people do, and which is already very tightly regulated. This, opposed to weekend binge drinking fuelled excesses and football-related boisterousness that I'm sure costs the Police/public purse far more to deal with than shooting ever will, and in which I have no interest in participating, or in having my tax payment involved in policing...

[SevenSixTwo]

Well, I've started doing what little I can to stand up for shooting in the way I know best. "Firearms licensing needs a proper review, not kneejerk reactions to Labour strawmen" http://thebackbencher.co.uk/firearms-li ... -strawmen/

Not bad Gaz, not bad at all. Just got to get that same message out nationally now. Just one thing mate, if you can try and avoid using the word "shooters" to describe yourselves, this is something the US NRA picked up on, there is the danger that it can be interpreted wrongly by folks reading it. Instead use the word "sportsmen and women", after all shooting is recognized sport. It just seems to go across better.

Blu

Indeed - and never say we're 'active shooters' either! :lol:

Positive comments noted but is that it? Who's actually shared it via social media? Who's posted it on another forum? Who's emailed it to a friend, colleague or even their MP?...

#proactive

[Blu]

Well, I've started doing what little I can to stand up for shooting in the way I know best. "Firearms licensing needs a proper review, not kneejerk reactions to Labour strawmen" http://thebackbencher.co.uk/firearms-li ... -strawmen/

Not bad Gaz, not bad at all. Just got to get that same message out nationally now. Just one thing mate, if you can try and avoid using the word "shooters" to describe yourselves, this is something the US NRA picked up on, there is the danger that it can be interpreted wrongly by folks reading it. Instead use the word "sportsmen and women", after all shooting is recognized sport. It just seems to go across better.

Blu

Indeed - and never say we're 'active shooters' either! :lol:

Positive comments noted but is that it? Who's actually shared it via social media? Who's posted it on another forum? Who's emailed it to a friend, colleague or even their MP?...

#proactive

Right on the money, now that the ball is rolling it has to be kept rolling, never let up and get everyone behind.

Blu

[joe]

Why, when there's an attrocity in the US, do the Govt NOT succeed in taking guns off it's citizens?


Have a think.







I've mentioned it before.





No, it's not the Second Amendment (alone).






Got it yet?








It's sheer NUMBERS (read VOTES).


It is ONLY with greater numbers that we can hope to gain a loud enough voice.

Next time you go to the range, bring someone new.

correct as until recently they was a total handgun ban in washington dc just like over here! it was overturned not because banning handguns per say was unconitional but rather it prevented citzens from using an effective means of self defence ie. the handgun thus against the 2nd amendment ! the court also when deciding wheather the 2nd amendment was either an individual or a collective right referred (among other texts as well) the uk bill of the rights act 1689 which declared a subject right to arms for defence.....! Heller v. District of Columbia

citzens in dc need a permit and registration to buy a handgun

[Blu]

joe,

citzens in dc need a permit and registration to buy a handgun

Correct, but this is also something which is being challenged in the courts and by guess who? Yep the NRA, and they will win.

Blu