New laws coming?

[Christel]

It does not really make sense why the Home Office uses the "criminal" reason to re-classify a firearm, especially not the two mentioned, there are not that many of them for the criminals to get hold of and thinking back to the incidents in the UK over the last 12 months or so...the criminals have been using knives, machetes, bombs of various origin, cars, not .50cals

If the Home Office can do it with those two firearms mentioned then they can use the same reason for shotguns...loads of them around and the criminals have better access to them than a .50 because of the amount in the country.

[breacher]

The consultation gets a mention in the Daily Fail today. Curiously they report the acid and knives part but make no reference to firearms at all.

[Sim G]

The consultation gets a mention in the Daily Fail today. Curiously they report the acid and knives part but make no reference to firearms at all.

Back door and opportunistic.

Time to start formulating our individual responses to the consultation...

[Dellboy]

So compensation is being mentioned

[dromia]

Well, if they aren't doing what you think they should be doing, why not see if you can establish an organisation that can? It could be all encompassing in terms of shooting, and have a very narrow remit, that of acting as a Parliamentary lobby group. You'd probably need to engage the services of a professional lobbying group, and a quick conversation with one of them will give you an idea of the budget. You might be able to persuade the existing shooting organisations to provide some support, both resources and financial, add some members on a modest subscription and you could do great things.

I have been saying for years that is the sort of thing that is needed and it has been proposed to the national organisations who have refused that need exists, saying the existing mechanisms were adequate as there is BSSC despite their continued record of failure.

I doubt that I would be a suitable person to start such an organisation I no longer have the patience and duplicity necessary for plaiting jam with civil servants but I would certainly support one, I am desperate to give my annual fees to an organisation that actually supports shooters, why don't you start it of as you have a good handle on what is needed.

I think this will be a fine test for the "national" organisations, if they are able to lead an effective challenge, nationally mobilise the shooting community and overturn these daft ideas then we may have some slight hope for the sector if they do not change their attitude and fail us yet again then shooting in the UK is finished. Our failure will just encourage the Home Office. They are obviously cherry picking minority users at the margins using the meaningless gun type/discipline fractures, we should be shifting the discussion to the real issue the bad people not the legal firearms as the source of societies threat. Unless that principle is won legal gun ownership is lost. We need to be setting a legal gun owners agenda and not just dancing reactively to the Home Office agenda.

The proposal of compensation is hoping that it will deflate the ban opposition as people will take the money and walk away.

The saddest part of this is the government lie that society will be safer by this action.

[Sim G]

25 minutes is all it took. I have responded to the consultation online.

Get to it.

[Christel]

https://www.heinnie.com/blog/heinnie-ha ... ouncement/

It is already illegal to sell most knives to under 18’s, but test purchases by Trading Standards, as well as the Met’s Operation Sceptre show that despite the current law prohibiting sale, it’s still possible for children to purchase knives in “bricks & mortar” stores. By making “bricks & mortar” the only channel for purchasing a knife will not solve the problem.

Same old, criminal will get a knife regardless of the law.

[BamBam]

http://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/s/WX2TN/

[dromia]

Completed but I suspect that they will be using the same principles of interpretation that the Scottish government used when they consulted on the airgun proposals that ended up with them becoming section1 firearms.

[Hrun]

http://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/s/WX2TN/

Done, not that I believe it will make any difference to the outcome. There should be 500,000 submissions, but there won't be.