To a large extent you are right, the whole situation is about politics and point scoring. Not a lot of people know that Tony Blair was poised to end the .22 pistol ban, there was dealings with a shooting body (not the NRA) but a plonker in that organisation let the cat out of the bag and the antis latched on to it so Labour denied it.

But this petition is nothing to do with any organisation, Dave Derrick who submitted it was acting on his own. The epetition site do not allow similar petitions so the organising bodies cant submit a clearer or better one at least till August so this is the one we are all pinning our hopes on.

As for mandatory training most clubs require a training session to teach basic range safety procedures already, we really do not mind rules and regulations to make our safe sport safer and more acceptible to those who have no idea how we operate.

I know it was startrd by an individual hence my comments regarding latching on. My comments regarding training were in reference to the NRA response to the last labour govt consuktation where the TR first boys wanted to be the national training body for all training of firearms and recommended it be mandatory!
Don't get me startrd on the NRA scam to tax range users with the certificate rubbish which is both unnecessary and worthless! I have covered that earlier and knowing several council members who failed to explain the need or usefulness of the exercise further convinced me that the NRA lacks both common sense and backbone!

Some mornings its hardly worth chewing through the straps! Sent from my Blackberry!

You obviously know something about target shooting, a pity none of the antis have any idea about how the sport is controlled and safe.

Fully agree about the competency certificates which clubs have to pay for each one they issue to members who want to shoot on miltary ranges, its a rip off. But the NRA are the ones who liase with the MOD so get to say who and how unfortunately.

But still I would not say they have latched on to this petition, there is probably sour grapes that they did not submit it, but they have emailed all affilated clubs to tell them of it which I approve of. The individual and a few others have been contacting as many groups as they can to try to garner support but its not easy when we come across people like yourself who wont support it because of perhaps some suspicion or phobia against an organisation or even perhaps the way its worded or that its only .22 pistols and not other firearms.

We are trying, thats all we can do.
To quote my corps motto "Sua Tonani Tela" or "to the warrior his guns"

Imagine if all cars were banned, a lot of people would lose their livelyhoods and then some org like the RAC who didn't stand up against the ban supported a partial revocation so formula 1 could be run in this country?


Now imagine the RAC called for licensing and mandatory training of cyclists as the only means of transport and wanted to train and charge for this?

Now you see how I feel!

If the RAC supported a return to even pre 1997 I would be a supporter but the cunts darent upset the politicians and Charity Commissioners lest they lose even more revenue!

Some mornings its hardly worth chewing through the straps! Sent from my Blackberry!

It's better than nothing I suppose...but personally I would like to see the whole lot restored, including semi-autos, those bans were injust and changed nothing...they just pissed off law abiding people.

No one is any safer after those bans, but that's what the 'ban gang' said it would achieve...er bollocks Mrs Pearston!

A firearm is a firearm, why get stuck on types...as for no crimes being done with .22's, didn't Bazzer Prudom (the one that Eddie McGee tracked) use an un-licenced Beretta .22 pistol?

Don't the ISSF/UIT crowd also use .32's for the leather & rigid canvas clad Olympic sports?

once again a thread that highlights the main problem with shooting sports in the UK, no overall true representative body and several self-serving ones all eager to throw others shooting disciplines to the dogs....

Signed it anyway, no real interest in pistol shooting personally, they're rubbish for rabbit and pigeon

It's awkward though, I suspect that all shooters are in a tiny minority compared with the outraged majority who's only knowledge of firearms and shotguns is spam movies and TV shows....

Personally, I'm very concerned by the use of chef and kitchen knives amongst a violent segment of the population. It is very clear that many homes have these weapons displayed and available in an unsafe manner. At the very least a license and vault must be required to remove the threat. A broadly based bi-partisan bill will be introduced to ban and replace these heinous items with a rounded edge spork to ensure maximum community safety.

It must be noted that the archaic reliance on "edged" knives is no longer necessary or desirable in a civilised society with full access to pablum since 1931. All right thinking members of society will immediately voluntarily remove the items from their homes and provide details to the local constabulary of those beknighted few incapable of making the correct choice.
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Good luck on the e-petition mate.

Originally Posted by Munter Hunter

Don't the ISSF/UIT crowd also use .32's for the leather & rigid canvas clad Olympic sports?

Nope.. All of the pistol events have the firers in clothing with the rigidity of a tracksuit. They do use 0.32 for the centre-fire disciplines, though.

As for the rifle events, they are either 0.22LR rifle or .177 airgun; the last Olympics to feature a 300m bigbore event was either Munich or Montreal (i.e. the 1970s). They're trying to balance the daft appearance of the specialist "semi-rigid leather and canvas" clothing against the need to prevent back injury from spending several hours a day training in the standing unsupported position with a 6.5kg rifle.

You might be interested to note that rigid clothing is a help to the intermediate competitor, where the bulk of movement comes from the inability to control "stillness". Unfortunately, the advanced competitor finds that the bulk of movement is triggered by heartbeat - and rigid clothing transmits that rather well. Stiff kit makes the beginner feel good, but hinders performance once you get to expert level.

The other cry of anguish is when the ISSF starts trying to change the rules about "what kit is allowable" at an unfortunate point in time (i.e. halfway through an Olympic cycle, instead of at the start of one). The canvas/leather/synthetic clothing costs about a grand a suit, if you're getting bespoke kit. Great if you're sponsored by Kurt Thune, a right pain if you aren't. Minus points for the ISSF if your justification comes from a single article by an Argentinian researcher that no-one's ever heard of, making rather vague and sweeping statements...

Originally Posted by DrStealth

once again a thread that highlights the main problem with shooting sports in the UK, no overall true representative body and several self-serving ones all eager to throw others shooting disciplines to the dogs....

..and when there's an attempt to unify the various bodies into a single organisation, there's always a very vocal doubter* in every discipline who complains that it's all a cunning plan by the shotgunners/TR shooters/airgunners/smallbore weirdos who don't/can't understand the motivation or special needs of shotgunners/TR shooters/airgunners/smallbore weirdos, and who can't be trusted.

Speaking as a smallbore weirdo.

* I was going to say "swivel-eyed fanatic" or "grudge-holding consipracy theorist", but it sounded too much like an insult