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

froggy wrote: the knee jerk legislation that Blair brought in that meant that the British Olympic pistol team have to go to France to even practice, was just crackers ... if you criminalise handguns then only the criminals carry the guns ... since Blair brought that piece of law in gun crime doubled in the next five years in this country ... we need a proper gun licensing system which to a large extent we already have and I think the ban on hand guns is ludicrous.

Quite frankly, I can not fault or disagree with any of the above ...
NFrancis .. Gaz ... Can you ?

We have a proper firearms licensing system in this country and the ban on handguns is not ludicrous. Its perfectly understandable that certain types of firearms are not generally available to members of the general public. In this country it happens to be pistols and you know the reason for that - a firearms certificate holder using legally held pistols which he obtained and learned to use by being a member of a shooting club very similar to the ones you and I are members of shot a classroom of 5 and 6 year olds to death. Just what do you expect a society to reflect upon when this happens?

This is not really a case of agreeing or disagreeing with any of this. The situation we find ourselves in is unfortunate but its not the end of the world. So there is some types of pistol we can't shoot. Big deal... There is loads of stuff we can - why don't we concentrate on all those instead of sulking about the few we can't? Some GB Pistol shooters have to train in other countries - do you know how many events this actually applies to? Out of the dozen or so current shooting events GB shooters can choose to shoot in the Olympic games two of them use pistols that are not legal in this country. Anyone in this country can shoot Olympic pistol disciplines - choose 50m free or air pistol. The challenge is the same, the techniques are the same the test of skill at arms is the same. Lets face it - you'd have to be pretty daft to choose a sport to concentrate on that was not readily accessible - that's what I'd be asking people.

You are going to have a hell of a job selling the 'we can't shoot pistols in the Olympics' to the general public with this argument because frankly even I don't buy it. You'll have an even even harder job when anyone points out the history the British have in Olympic pistol shooting - last pistol medal won in 1912 I believe and that as a bronze. A real impressive historic legacy that one!

That, on the other hand, is plain lie, borderline insulting & impling that if licenced gun owners have access to more guns, they will start shooting people.... So, instead of getting one's knickers in a twist about Farage having the courage to publicly talk common sense, I would expect my fellow sportsmen and the NRA to object to the rubbish coming out of Keith Vaz and challenging the false accusations he is planting in the public's mind unchallenged.

Well - instead of getting our knickers in a twist about what any 3rd rate "here today gone tomorrow" politician says why don't we just get on with the shooting?

nfrancis wrote:

froggy wrote: the knee jerk legislation that Blair brought in that meant that the British Olympic pistol team have to go to France to even practice, was just crackers ... if you criminalise handguns then only the criminals carry the guns ... since Blair brought that piece of law in gun crime doubled in the next five years in this country ... we need a proper gun licensing system which to a large extent we already have and I think the ban on hand guns is ludicrous.

Quite frankly, I can not fault or disagree with any of the above ...
NFrancis .. Gaz ... Can you ?

We have a proper firearms licensing system in this country and the ban on handguns is not ludicrous. Its perfectly understandable that certain types of firearms are not generally available to members of the general public. In this country it happens to be pistols and you know the reason for that - a firearms certificate holder using legally held pistols which he obtained and learned to use by being a member of a shooting club very similar to the ones you and I are members of shot a classroom of 5 and 6 year olds to death. Just what do you expect a society to reflect upon when this happens?

[/quote]
I agree with that.

You are going to have a hell of a job selling the 'we can't shoot pistols in the Olympics' to the general public with this argument because frankly even I don't buy it.

I successfully sold it to the Daily Mail's online political editor earlier today. You don't try, you don't get.

You'll have an even even harder job when anyone points out the history the British have in Olympic pistol shooting - last pistol medal won in 1912 I believe and that as a bronze. A real impressive historic legacy that one!

Mick Gault was the best chance we had, and the British Olympic Committee cancelled his entry if I remember rightly. Apparently they decided that because we've done poorly before, we shouldn't bother trying again.

Well - instead of getting our knickers in a twist about what any 3rd rate "here today gone tomorrow" politician says why don't we just get on with the shooting?

Because unless we pay attention to the politicians, we won't have anything left to shoot.

"Police officer shoots himself in the leg holstering pistol"

Nah you folks in the UK don't need handguns, you'll only hurt yourselves


Blu

I'm just glad to hear the prospect of the ban being lifted discussed in the mainstream.
Farage needs to let someone who knows about the current state of the sport take the reins on this one.
Who wants to be shadow minister for shooting sports?

Isn't this our time to act?

As BamBam says, the issue for once is in the mainstream media, not a sideline issue that frankly most of the public don't give a toss about.

Whilst the iron is hot we can really make our voices heard!

I think that if they can get enough ignored/forgotten minority groups to vote for them then they may just get enough votes.

DM

We have a proper firearms licensing system in this country and the ban on handguns is not ludicrous. Its perfectly understandable that certain types of firearms are not generally available to members of the general public. In this country it happens to be pistols and you know the reason for that - a firearms certificate holder using legally held pistols which he obtained and learned to use by being a member of a shooting club very similar to the ones you and I are members of shot a classroom of 5 and 6 year olds to death. Just what do you expect a society to reflect upon when this happens?

Follow that logic and if he had used a shotgun it would have being OK to ban shotguns, or if he had used knives. Derrick Bird used a shotgun and .22 rifle ban them as well.

Nah you folks in the UK don't need handguns

Most in this part of the UK manage to use handguns without shooting ourselves in the leg or anywhere else.

Most in this part of the UK manage to use handguns without shooting ourselves in the leg or anywhere else.

ordnance, Looking at the numbers for ND's in Northern Ireland since 2007 it's a good job you used the word "Most", there's been a good fair few of them mate. zzzzom

Blu

ordnance, Looking at the numbers for ND's in Northern Ireland since 2007 it's a good job you used the word "Most", there's been a good fair few of them mate.

One to many , but when you consider that around ten thousand officers are armed here ( on and off duty ), it compares favourably with the MET for example , whose firearms officers leave their firearms at the station. There are also civilians that own handguns for protection and sport.

ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE LEAGUE TABLE:
Metropolitan Police 56
Northern Ireland 31
Bedfordshire 3
Devon and Cornwall 2
Lincolnshire Police 2

ordnance, the numbers I looked at for ND's in NI included privately held ND's that were reported. Anyway it's by the by as my original comment was written tongue in cheek.

Blu