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

we were screwed at every turn by the press by the police and by the general public

I don't know what your complaining about, according to you no one "needs" pistols.

Chuck wrote:Seems strange that in a democracy - and those people who claim to be democratic - all want to dictate what you can and cannot do for sport / fun / eat /drink etc etc.

"THEY" do not like it (or maybe just do not want) "YOU" to have it so "THEY" must have it done away with..not exactly democratic is it?

Remember the old Liebour slogan:

"New labour, tough on fun, tough on the causes of fun".

The UK is a SOCIALIST deMOCKracy... tesnews

Alpha1 wrote:

Bunfights about who called whom what are counter productive. There is a specific threat to our sport, without it seems, a specific reason behind it other than vote-whoring misdirection. I am too young to have enjoyed shooting pistols or FBSLRs. I lay the blame at every shooter who failed to do anything productive at the time. I am damned if I'm going to let some champagne socialists rob future generations of any shooting discpline -- whether I choose to partake or not.

Most Britons, I believe, are not specifically anti shooting, and neither do the party leaders or else it would be a hot topic. All we need to do is show the British public that shooting is a largely classless, harmless activity.

Yes you are right you are far to young to know anything about what happened after the pistol ban and the fight that was put up to keep pistols etc we were screwed at every turn by the press by the police and by the general public. So stop banging on about some thing you know nothing about.

I thought the "fight that was put up" consisted of official advice to keep a "dignified silence". I'm sure somewhere on here I had a club secretary of the time confirm that this was the case.

AFAIK the "fight that was put up" consisted of a march that was put on after the ban was announced. Genius.

But, as Blu says above:

I recently sent a (basc) letter to all my local MP's , they were largely either in support or ambiguous about shooting sports with the exception of the greens and the liberals who were both vehemently anti gun and blood sport , I respect them for straight talking but will never vote that way whilst I can draw breath (I run a small business and they aren't great for that either but that's a different subject)

To clarify. The march in London took place well before the reclassification (!)
I was there along with the 25 to 30000 others.
It was the biggest march in the UK since the ban the bomb stuff in the 1960`s (?)
And there was support from most disciplines.
I remember getting close to Trafalgar square and we held back to let people across a zebra crossing.
A youngish guy crossing muttered something like "Why don't you shoot your way through!"
There were also people wandering through the crowd at Trafalgar square obviously out to cause trouble by goading us.
Nothing happened. It was a very moving experience with some very good speakers.

mag41uk wrote:To clarify. The march in London took place well before the reclassification (!)
I was there along with the 25 to 30000 others.
It was the biggest march in the UK since the ban the bomb stuff in the 1960`s (?)
And there was support from most disciplines.
I remember getting close to Trafalgar square and we held back to let people across a zebra crossing.
A youngish guy crossing muttered something like "Why don't you shoot your way through!"
There were also people wandering through the crowd at Trafalgar square obviously out to cause trouble by goading us.
Nothing happened. It was a very moving experience with some very good speakers.

You forget to add; And received almost no TV coverage, despites its size - obviously because it was peaceful. Had things got out of hand i'm sure it would've become an international news story :roll:

I do think the era of mass marches on Parliament having any public effect is over. Large public gatherings do nothing but p*** off commuters.

Short of local rifle clubs organising attendance at constituency surgeries to speak to MPs in person I'm really not sure what other methods are left. Online petitions etc don't work (look at the stalled pistol petition) and MPs etc's ignorance of the licensed firearms community won't be affected by online campaigning, which is easily ignored by simply turning the computer off.

Perhaps we should target local political parties' memberships by inviting them (as members of an outside body, for guest day purposes) on dedicated range days to showcase our activities to them and build a positive image for the shooting sports amongst the ignorant? I'm trying (on a very modest scale) to get fellow journalists along to range days, though it's an uphill task.

+ 1 Gaz,

However politicians, like for that matter actors, entertainers or anybody remotely in the public spotlight, are not interested in the truth/facts of gun ownership and associated sports. They are solely interested in improving their image but appearing "nice" by opposing the perceived "bad" shooting community.

But, my wet green friend, it is in all of our interests to change those bad perceptions by actively inviting neutral people into our ranges and our shoots and showing them what it is we do and how we do it. N'est-ce pas?