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I have a problem with the wording.

The petition says section 12(1)(c) of the Firearms (Amendment) Act (No.1) 1997 (I like all these brackets, honest) should stay repealed. Assuming that means the rest of section 12 would therefore come into force, this means subsection 3 would become law. That says:

(3)Any firearm certificate in force immediately before the day on which this section comes into force which—

(a)relates to a small-calibre pistol; and

(b)is subject to the condition that the pistol is only to be used on an approved range;

shall be treated on and after that day as being held subject to a condition requiring the pistol to be kept at licensed premises of a licensed pistol club.

If the law doesn't say anything more about "licensed pistol clubs" or "licensed premises" (as opposed to "Home Office Approved" and "approved by a range certification body" - the wording's critical) this could open the door for all manner of stupidity to be arbitrarily imposed by the police setting up a pistol club licensing scheme and potentially a range licensing scheme.

To the police, especially ACPO, this is a golden goose. Want a pistol club licence from us? That'll be £250, renewable annually. Want your perfectly functional range licensed for pistols? That'll be another £500, renewable annually too. Oh, and each pistol must be stored separately within the club armoury from other firearms. Can't have non-pistol members gaining access to pistols, yknow. Add on all the costs you'll need to effectively build an armoury-within-an-armoury.

I can't sign this. It opens too many cans of worms.

Thanks for the initiative .
Signed it.

Me too.

Signed, and now all over my Social Media

Gaz wrote:I have a problem with the wording.

The petition says section 12(1)(c) of the Firearms (Amendment) Act (No.1) 1997 (I like all these brackets, honest) should stay repealed. Assuming that means the rest of section 12 would therefore come into force, this means subsection 3 would become law. That says:

(3)Any firearm certificate in force immediately before the day on which this section comes into force which—

(a)relates to a small-calibre pistol; and

(b)is subject to the condition that the pistol is only to be used on an approved range;

shall be treated on and after that day as being held subject to a condition requiring the pistol to be kept at licensed premises of a licensed pistol club.

If the law doesn't say anything more about "licensed pistol clubs" or "licensed premises" (as opposed to "Home Office Approved" and "approved by a range certification body" - the wording's critical) this could open the door for all manner of stupidity to be arbitrarily imposed by the police setting up a pistol club licensing scheme and potentially a range licensing scheme.

To the police, especially ACPO, this is a golden goose. Want a pistol club licence from us? That'll be £250, renewable annually. Want your perfectly functional range licensed for pistols? That'll be another £500, renewable annually too. Oh, and each pistol must be stored separately within the club armoury from other firearms. Can't have non-pistol members gaining access to pistols, yknow. Add on all the costs you'll need to effectively build an armoury-within-an-armoury.

I can't sign this. It opens too many cans of worms.

Gaz, I have asked them to pop in here and comment on the wording..

techguy wrote:

Gaz wrote:I have a problem with the wording.

The petition says section 12(1)(c) of the Firearms (Amendment) Act (No.1) 1997 (I like all these brackets, honest) should stay repealed. Assuming that means the rest of section 12 would therefore come into force, this means subsection 3 would become law. That says:

(3)Any firearm certificate in force immediately before the day on which this section comes into force which—

(a)relates to a small-calibre pistol; and

(b)is subject to the condition that the pistol is only to be used on an approved range;

shall be treated on and after that day as being held subject to a condition requiring the pistol to be kept at licensed premises of a licensed pistol club.

If the law doesn't say anything more about "licensed pistol clubs" or "licensed premises" (as opposed to "Home Office Approved" and "approved by a range certification body" - the wording's critical) this could open the door for all manner of stupidity to be arbitrarily imposed by the police setting up a pistol club licensing scheme and potentially a range licensing scheme.

To the police, especially ACPO, this is a golden goose. Want a pistol club licence from us? That'll be £250, renewable annually. Want your perfectly functional range licensed for pistols? That'll be another £500, renewable annually too. Oh, and each pistol must be stored separately within the club armoury from other firearms. Can't have non-pistol members gaining access to pistols, yknow. Add on all the costs you'll need to effectively build an armoury-within-an-armoury.

I can't sign this. It opens too many cans of worms.

Gaz, I have asked them to pop in here and comment on the wording..

So...

This is another of countless pistol petitions that will unfortunately go nowhere, there is is nothing wrong with trying but this is just not going to happen.

Do you sign on as Alpha1 as well?

You word it I'll sign it :) it's not the final vote so I'm of the view that the wording is not as crucial as getting as many people as possible to speak up and sign these things, let's face it there are so many different interpretations across the country of existing laws by officers of the law ( and I mean no disrespect to them) that the wording of a petition we can all see is simply trying to say " can we have our pistols back please, some idiot took them away and it wasn't fair or necessary, if only the .22s for now".
Sign it, sign em all :lol:

Hi folks.

Just stopping by to say someone from Firearms UK will respond and discuss any criticism with you in due course.

I have personally been on holiday all week and have not even finished unpacking yet, another team member is still on holiday, so whilst we recognize you may wish to open a dialogue or discuss what led to the petition being published in its current form, please be patient with us while we get to your points, we will respond as soon as we can.

Thank you.