The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Gaz wrote:

5. Mandatory introductory Safety and Awareness Course from accredited providers with fixed pricing. Existing license holders exempt.

The NRA already has fullbore target shooters over a barrel with the competency card system - no more closed shops, thank you.

Poppycock. It is the MOD that has us (including the NRA) over a barrel.
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Good reply by both Gaz and Sim G, you have said it all really.
Sorry Sendit but I thik that you are well off the mark. Would I be right in thinking that you only shoot target (moderator use being the give away)?

We are actually well on the way to mandatory training already - certainly for s1 firearms. To get a FAC for target shooting you have to be a member of a HO Approved club, which means that unless the military or the police have trained you you have to do a probationary course. To get a FAC for quarry shooting it is becoming the norm that the police require you to be mentored on whatever land you have permission to shoot over, which seems to be creating the same sort of system in an ad hoc manner.

And using a firearm safely (as distinct from accurately or effectively) is actually pretty simple. I wouldn't want to see a government-sanctioned cartel creating an industry out of something that can be taught to a moderately intelligent person in a couple of hours. Getting people to follow the training for a lifetime, now that's a different issue.

Iain

IainWR wrote:unless the military or the police have trained you you have to do a probationary course.

That's not strictly true. You don't have to do a 'course'. You have to complete a probationary period at the club (3-6 months), but not a course.

Home Office Guidance regarding approved clubs:

before becoming a full member,
individuals must have a probationary
period of at least 3 months during which
time they must attend and shoot regularly.
The probationary member must be given
a course in the safe handling and use
of firearms on a one-to-one basis by
someone who is either a full member
of the club or who is a coach with a
qualification recognised by the Great
Britain Target Shooting Federation and
governing bodies;

Both my son and I are full members of two gun clubs (and a clay pigeon club) where we shoot a variety of firearms from a 6mm CO2 air pistol up to a .308 rifle, at each club we had to do the mandatory probation course which included safe handling and use of a variety of firearms.

I have both my FAC and SGC and have been shooting since 1979, we both have NRA safe shooters cards and have recently joined a 3rd club (St Giles Yarners in Durham), again we have to complete the required probationary period and training course before being considered for full membership, and it's no bad thing, you can never be too safe as far as firearms are concerned.

IainWR wrote:Home Office Guidance regarding approved clubs:

before becoming a full member,
individuals must have a probationary
period of at least 3 months during which
time they must attend and shoot regularly.
The probationary member must be given
a course in the safe handling and use
of firearms on a one-to-one basis by
someone who is either a full member
of the club or who is a coach with a
qualification recognised by the Great
Britain Target Shooting Federation and
governing bodies;

Replace 'a course' with 'instruction and supervision' and it's probably more accurate.

Sim good points.. Instruction and supervision..training?

Oh and amidst all this begging and worrying about your rights, does it not make you sick that Cameron is thinking he can circumvent an arms embargo to provide weapons to Syrian terrorists to help them overthrow their legitimate rulers..

Seems he trusts Muslim terrorists and killers more than his own people..they get S5 - you get screwed. Only in the UK eh.

Sim G wrote:My approach is really quite simple. Licence the individual, not the item.

People, including some shooters would baulk at the prospect of the sport once again involving full bore semi automatic (or even full automatic) rifles and pistols again. The massacres of Hungerford and Dunblane wouldn't be far from even a shooters point to have them remain banned. However, the last massacre in this country, in Cumbia, was so carried out with two of the most ubiquitous guns in the UK, a 12 bore double barrelled shotgun and a .22 rimfire bolt action rifle.....

The argument that one type of firearm is more dangerous than the other is moot.

If you can be trusted with a single barrel .410 shotgun, you can be trusted with a 9mm Glock or a .223 AR15. And if you can have one, you could just as safely hold 100.

The individual, appropriately assessed, not the gun.

Excellent points- I'd only add that the licensing proceedure should be brought into the 21st century to streamline the whole process!