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Firearms Licencing in the News again...

It seems The Times has gone full Daily Wail this morning on UK Firearms Licensing laws. Apparently in the UK we can buy military "style" shotguns online that look like AK47s and that can fire up to 10 shots without reloading with just a background check and "good reason".

Military‑style firearms for sale in British shops

Unfortunately I don't subscribe to this quality broadsheet, but would nevertheless be keen to know how many such shotguns these intrepid journalists of good character were able to buy online with just a background check and the good reason of filling some space on the front page.
 
It seems The Times has gone full Daily Wail this morning on UK Firearms Licensing laws. Apparently in the UK we can buy military "style" shotguns online that look like AK47s and that can fire up to 10 shots without reloading with just a background check and "good reason".

Military‑style firearms for sale in British shops

Unfortunately I don't subscribe to this quality broadsheet, but would nevertheless be keen to know how many such shotguns these intrepid journalists of good character were able to buy online with just a background check and the good reason of filling some space on the front page.
They didn’t, they later explain you need a FAC. GMA raises her (ugly) head again, as does Yardley:
New Zealand moved this week to ban MSSA (military-style semi-automatic) shotguns capable of holding more than five rounds by classifying them as military-style weapons.
Under UK law they remain legal, but the Home Office was facing calls last night to impose a ban. Officials said they were following the New Zealand investigation closely to see if Britain needed to act. Firearm laws were reformed in 1997 in the wake of the Hungerford and Dunblane massacres but gun control campaigners say the new weapons exploit loopholes.
There are 20,000 legally held high-capacity shotguns in England and Wales. The vast majority are used in the countryside for vermin control, but military-style weapons are becoming increasingly popular for “practical shooting”, a sport in which participants move through a course firing at targets.

The discipline is governed by the UK Practical Shooting Association (UKPSA), a charity with the stated object of providing firearms instruction “amongst Her Majesty’s subjects so that they will be better fitted to serve their country in the armed forces”.
Such weapons are available only to holders of firearms certificates who have undergone detailed background checks and have a “good reason” for owning one. Government guidance regards “target shooting” — including practical shooting — as a legitimate reason for acquiring the weapons.
Critics point out that Tarrant, 28, the alleged Christchurch killer, was a member of a shooting club and had a firearms licence. Michael Yardley, a writer on shooting, said: “There is no real place in sports shooting for assault-style weapons nor is pretending to be in the SAS justifiable as sport.”
Gill Marshall-Andrews, of the Gun Control Network, called for a ban on multishot weapons, adding: “There is no legitimate purpose for them.”
The UKPSA said it was “absolutely horrified by the criminal actions of an abhorrent extremist in New Zealand”. It said British practical shooters competed around the world and added: “The equipment we use for our sport is highly modified and only suited to high level athletic use. Whilst they may bear some resemblance to their military counterparts they are . . . only useful for sporting purposes.”
A Home Office spokesman said firearms laws were kept under constant review: “We will thoroughly review the findings of the investigation into last week’s tragic attack in Christchurch to see if further action should be taken to keep our communities safe.”
 
Gotta love sensationalist reporting. I think in the current climate in the UK, kitchen knives appear to be more of a problem and you don't need a background check or certificate from the Polis to buy those....
 
Sadly Yardley's comment is typical of many in the shooting community - I don't do that discipline, can't see the point, so I don't care if it's banned. Not realising that every incremental ban chips away closer to his beloved side by sides.
 
It seems The Times has gone full Daily Wail this morning on UK Firearms Licensing laws. Apparently in the UK we can buy military "style" shotguns online that look like AK47s and that can fire up to 10 shots without reloading with just a background check and "good reason".

Military‑style firearms for sale in British shops

Unfortunately I don't subscribe to this quality broadsheet, but would nevertheless be keen to know how many such shotguns these intrepid journalists of good character were able to buy online with just a background check and the good reason of filling some space on the front page.
It's still an Aussie sensation rag, same shifty owner as the Sun.
Identical political aims but a different tgt demographic.
 
Sadly Yardley's comment is typical of many in the shooting community - I don't do that discipline, can't see the point, so I don't care if it's banned. Not realising that every incremental ban chips away closer to his beloved side by sides.

Anything Yardley writes smacks of look at me!

There is a reason I dont buy newspapers or subscribe to them; Journalists.
 
Anything Yardley writes smacks of look at me!

In a (then) new magazine edited by an ex-OR, the Pope had a column and insisted on a full page portrait to ensure anyone not currently conversant with the "gentleman" would know his face.

I think the image was reposted as Know Your Enemy.
 
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Reminiscent of a stunt in Germany a couple of years ago. SOP when dealing with runaway cows etc is to call out a hunter to deal with it. Two GCP had a much better idea when confronted with a wild boar that was on the rampage in somebodys house. They tried to kill it using 9mm, quite a bit of 9mm. Result one very p1ssed off piggy and two coppers exiting the house at warp speed.
Britain does not have a monopoly of brain surgeons in police uniform.

Perhaps they need Canadian Hunting advice..

When controlling large wild animals with less than .30 rifle... file off the foresight and grease the barrel...
 
This is the old showman's licence issue..

Basically it allows a .22 shooting gallery to exist without the restrictions placed on conventional section 1 shooting activities. Historically it arose because of pressure from the showman's guild when the original firearms licence was introduced. At the time, .22 rifle ranges, usually using .22shorts were a standard feature of travelling fairs.

Frankly it is not much used now, however it does allow a temporary .22 range to be set up and operated in such a way as to allow the public to "have a go". There has, to the best of my knowledge, never been a security issue with this type of activity, and the Police have always been aware of such ranges. If they have an issue with how a specific range is being run, they have plenty of provisions to intervene and deal with it. That they have not done so indicates to me that they have a weak or non existent issue with the case in point.

My view is that the Showman's Licence, along with the rest of the firearms acts, needs to be brought up to date, but that it does fill a valid and useful purpose. The problem with the existing Sect 1 target shooting regime is that it is very inflexible and seems to have been deliberately designed to prevent people being introduced into the activity.

I would suggest that the source of the Mail article is almost certainly the Police, who are yet again seeking to influence public opinion and firearms law.. This is both unconstitutional and unfair..
 
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