Variation requirements

[Scotsgun]

Hi,

Just had a member ask for a copy of their shooting records as his FEO needed it to go with his variation request. Has that happened to anyone else?

Heather

The FEO is pushing it and ignoring home office guidance. They are at liberty to inspect the shooting register of any registered home office club, but they cannot single an individual out nor make it a condition of any variation. If you comply then you are inviting them to enforce their own perception of what is a 'frequent' shooter and how frequent you must be in order to satisfy their perception of 'need' for each firearm. So I should ignore the request and risk my member not getting his variation? I don't think so.

My penultimate paragraph is my advice. I did not advise you to ignore.

Both BASC and the SGA are actively encouraging their members to report any unfair practices or deviation from the Home Office guidance. They are recording these in a database and actively challenging them. Why the hell aren't you? :evil: We are - why do you think I'm asking for info here? Today was the first we had heard of it, Iain is already involved - I think that is fairly fast!

Comply once with this unfair demand and you set a precedent. Represent your member and their interests. Contact the FEO directly, demand a reasoning for request in writing and invite him to view the booking register. It's the least that my local clubs would do and i bet he'll backtrack on his demand. Personally I'm not into demanding stuff, I prefer to ask nicely - it tends to get a better response. The member in question isn't bothered about it, especially as he has plenty of entries on his record. Iain and I have a plan of action!

Fast, you really think this is fast? BASC in particular have been warning for months about the increasingly unfair conditions and provisions being forced by Police Forces and have been actively compiling their database for at least as long! This is why i resent paying membership to the NRA - you rarely give a damn about anything happening outwith the Bisley postcode and when you do, your action is usually inefectual. Do you actually communicate with the other shooting organisations? The BASC database has even been actively promoted in the recent shooting mags.

Heather, you may well prefer to be nice. Infact your whole organisation has a track record for being 'nice.' That's exactly why I and so many other shooters lack confidence in you actively protecting our rights. Many of the other organisations and SGA in particular have no problem in NOT being nice and that's exactly why the police take them seriously.

I remember well the 'nice' support offered from the NRA during the pistol and semi-auto bans!

Consider the many shooters like me. I am a member of the NRA, BASC, SGA and BDS. I attend clubs and am therefore registered as shooting perhaps once a month. However i actively stalk and hunt, therefore 'shoot' 2 or 3 times a week. Firing thousands of rounds more than will ever be recorded/registered.

[nicklm]

Some good point here!! as for NRA being 'nice' i seam to recal a statement along the lines of 'semi automatic rifles have no place in competition' . That helped didn't it. My local force demand individuals shooting record at ech renewal, not heard of one for variation though.

[Steve]

Cambs do,but not all the time.They ask for a particular members details and i convert it to a PDF file,encrypt it and email it to them.