Incommoded? Not us!

"The Shooting Sports"

Are you satisfied with our sport? It looks like it.

You can see the headline results - and the detailed results from 2009 at Sport England's Sport satisfaction survey results.

R U 17 ?

Bill Wiggin MP is a vice-chairman of the British Shooting Sports Council, and he's penned this article for use by the shooting organisations. It's WELL worth reading - by EVERY shooter.
Why it pays to keep your MP fully informed!

THE CRIMINAL SHOOTER - ENGLAND AND WALES
Deaths and injuries caused by the illegal use of guns (excluding airguns.)
1969 - - - - 173
1988 - - - - 410
2008/9 - - - 1,764

THE LEGAL SHOOTER - ENGLAND AND WALES
Certificates for the legal use of guns
1988 - - - - 1,037,400
2008/9 - - - - 713,674

CRIMES INVOLVING THE USE OF HANDGUNS
1988 - - - - 1,484
1998/9 - - - 2,687
2008/9 - - - 4,275

SO..... deaths and injuries from armed crime have quadrupled, whilst legal ownership has been reduced by 1/3rd.

Pistols have been banned from legal use for most practical purposes, (reduced by around 98%) whilst the criminal use of pistols is getting close to doubling since the "ban."

It's also interesting to note that the Home Office DON'T KNOW how many legitimate shooters there are in England and Wales, and they DON'T KNOW what all the guns are that are licensed - a quarter of them are described as "Other" - and when asked, they haven't got an answer.
(I suspect a good number of them are sound moderators.)

Due to the change years ago of Firearm and Shotgun certificate life from three years to five years, there have been two years in which police firearms licensing staff have had very few renewals to deal with - and 2008 and 2009 were two of those years.

Now in 2011 we have returned to the normal amount of renewals, and we are beginning to see long delays in the renewal process in some police force areas.

To avoid any problems, suggest that you get YOUR renewal application in as soon as possible to give the firearms departments a chance, BUT If they are inefficent or unhelpful (most are both helpful AND efficient) let your shooting organisation know so that they can help.

If you are a member of a shooting organisation why not ring them for help with the (extremely badly designed) forms? It's what you pay them for..... !

There's a link above left and also below where you can download the forms, as well as help with their completion.

CERTIFICATE APPLICATION FORMS AND GUIDANCE

PROMOTE YOUR CLUB

We believe it's important that people who are not shooters come to see that our sport is simply that - a sport - along with the likes of local darts, football, rugby etc.
One of the ways of doing this is to get into your local newspapers by sending them the results of various competitions for publication on their sports pages; Local newspapers are always looking for this sort of thing.

Some newspaper groups offer web space to local clubs and societies - and this is another way of getting "local" shooting into the public conciousness.
We use two such facilities - Communigate - Cheshire, and The Wirral Globe, and combined with the occasional e-mail fax or letter to the other local newspapers, it has put us - if not on a par with - at least in amongst the local sports.

This also had the effect of attracting the attention of the sports reporter of the largest regional paper in the North-West - see Daily Post Article.

(Updated 12/10/09)

HOME OFFICE PRESS RELEASE- 079/98 27 February 1998

GOVERNMENT KEEPS ITS PROMISE AS HANDGUN SURRENDER IS COMPLETED

The Government fulfilled its pledge to remove all handguns from the streets of Britain today [emphasis added] as the final phase of firearms surrender came to a close.

The remaining legally owned handguns were being handed in to police throughout February as today's deadline approached. Welcoming the end of the hand-in period, Home Office Minister Alun Michael said:

"We have now held a successful firearms surrender for large and small calibre handguns, which I believe has put a firm brake on the development of a dangerous gun culture in the UK.

"Today's deadline for surrender of small calibre pistols completes the Government's drive to take all handguns out of general civilian circulation.

"It should be remembered that in 1996, 294 pistols were either stolen or obtained via fraud. A total ban reduces this risk and prevents legally held handguns falling into the wrong hands.

"I thank the police for ensuring that both hand-in periods have been handled successfully and professionally. I would also like to thank handgun owners who have co-operated in the hand-in arrangements. I understand that many firearms owners feel aggrieved with the recent changes in the law but appreciate their co-operation in carrying the new law into effect, despite their personal feelings on the matter.

"I would also urge the public to contact either their local police or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 with any information they may have concerning illegally held guns."

Pistol Facts (18/07/08)

In 1998/1999 when the ban on legally-held pistols was brought in, 10.1% of injuries caused by the illegal use of firearms were caused by pistols. Now, the Home Office figures (2007/2008)show that the proportion has more than DOUBLED - to 26.3%.*

AND.....
"It should be remembered that in 1996, 294 pistols were either stolen or obtained via fraud. A total ban reduces this risk and prevents legally held handguns falling into the wrong hands."

BUT....... in 1997, 305 handguns were stolen, and then in 1997/8, 270 handguns were stolen - AFTER "all" handguns had been banned from legal possession.

*From Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2007/08
(Supplementary Volume 2 to Crime in England and Wales 2007/08)
David Povey (Ed.), Kathryn Coleman, Peter Kaiza and Stephen Roe.