Be nice to the public, PC Plod. Especially if you're trying to stop terrorists

Back in the late 70's I was secretary of my university's rifle and pistol club. Prior to the Iranian revolution I can remember a couple of anti-Shah students turning up at the range one day. They picked up a pistol. A few short sharp words: "who gave you permission", "you didn't check whether it was unloaded" and "never point a weapon in anyone's direction unless..." and they weren't seen again.

Give club members a credit for a bit of common sense. Even a geek like me in my early 20's could spot a dodgy prospective new member.

LAW ABIDING

Its been many years since I held a firearms licence (.22" and 7.62mm target rifles). My comments are soundly grounded on ignorance and prejudice, but hey, that shouldn't stop a proper commentard.

By and large the UK shooting community is about the most law abiding section of society. Come to the notice of the police for any reason (drink driving, TV licence etc) and your suitability to hold a licence will be reviewed. OK, an unreformed toper who hasn't got the sense to walk home from the pub may not be the most suitable, responsible candidate to hold a firearms licence. But, as they say, a friend of a friend (so very much hearsay and rumour) had an unnecessary to do retaining his right to pursue his hobby because of an offense at the lower end of the scale.

I don't want the streets of Surrey turned into the wild west any more than the next man but a sense of proportion would be nice and, of course, consistency across the various authorities.

Toblerone & Cuckoo Clocks.

How's the gun crime rate in Switzerland? Isn't everyone over there issued with a SIG assault rifle? They don't have a problem....maybe that system and mind set could be transposed to this country?

worth noting

that the Police licence records for firearms holders are completely screwed up after the various amnesty's where guns were handed in but the licence was never updated.

In all seriousness - if you own a gun that's licenced, phone up and find out exactly what you have on your licence. You may find it's got guns you've previously destroyed / handed in / traded on and you're still liable for them.

This, I know for a fact as I deal with the stuff every day.

Clubcard Points

In other news, Tesco has been requested to analyse the purchases of all its customers in case they've purchased common household chemicals which might be used as precursors for explosives or poison gas manufacture.

To avoid detection, DO NOT buy Harpic & Domestos in the same transaction.

What about Ron Paul supporters

Back when Ron Paul was still in office one of the State Police Departments defined a potential domestic terrorists as some one who supported Ron Paul, was pro-life and a member of the NRA.

Once the memo was leaked they backpedaled immediately.

In the recent mass shooting incidents in the U.S. the shooter was seeing a therapist. All of shootings occurred in a Gun Free Zone.

Easy Targets

The shooting community has always been an easy target for the police. They know where we all are and what firearms we possess and as has been said we are EXTREMELY law abiding. So in 1997/98 we all trooped down to the local nick and handed our pistols and revolvers in.

Unfortunately this has had a detrimental effect on any attempt to fix handgun crime in the US. The NRA (The US version not the original one in Surrey.) point at what happened in the UK as reason to oppose any form of firearms licensing. They point out that after Hungerford and Dunblane the law-abiding had their guns taken off them by the government even though, in both cases, the failure was not with them but rather the licensing authorities.

Terrorists Use iPhones...

So ban them!

Anything else terrorists use we can ban at the same time?

Re. Terrorists use iPhones...

Oxygen?

Problem solved!

It does occur to me that a sufficiently ingenious nutter is always going to outthink an entire team of Plod no matter how smart they are, case in point it is possible to make an IED using pretty much any combination of common children's toys and common chemicals.

Short of banning R/C devices entirely and any chemical more noxious than water then the nutters would just use crossbows instead.

Better to educate the public on detecting said nutters before they can strike.

Naivity unbound

UK gun rights were systematically removed one by one according to a pre-decided plan.

..and now look at the way the police and govt treat people.

The only people in the UK who should have guns are the army and the police and even then the police should not carry guns as a matter of course. The risk of gun ownership are simply too high and there are simply no benefits from having them in the hands of the public.

people who hold extreme views, of whatever flavour... gaining access to firearms

methinks they can do more damage making an informed purchase in a DIY supermarket.

WAIT! - did I just write something il... IL-LEGAL?! Like... inciting this or that. Suggesting, oh-God, I dare say no more, the keyboard's frozen now anywa

...

Let's police people with extreme views gaining access to the firearms then. Much safer to support this! Think of the widespread terror they could cause with those firearms! Thousands and thousands would die!

It has been said many times that only the police and the Army should have guns. It was a recurring mantra from the Gun Control Network (all four of them) that if only this gun or that gun was banned from civilian ownership then all would be well with the world. In line with this thinking, more and more types of firearm have been banned from civilian ownership over the years.

Unfortunately there is a fundamental flaw in this approach - criminals do not obey laws! Pistols and revolvers have been pretty well banned from civilian ownership since 1997. According to the people who want guns banned, that in the years following 1997 there should have been an immediate reduction in the miss-use of handguns. Did it? On the contrary the criminal use of firearms doubled in the years following the ban. This showed quite clearly that, in the UK, there was NO causal link between the civilian ownership of pistols and revolvers and the use of such firearm by criminals.

... Op Solitaire is being driven by a police need to be seen to be doing something

Which seem to pretty much cover policing as a whole for the last ten years. My inner cynic is forever rolling its eyeballs at the police making yet another public display of "investigating", with attendant suitably grave press releases, some fat mouthed comment by/about a well known individual on twatter or some other popular service. There seems to be a belief that the deterrent of 'visible' policing these days isn't about a presence anywhere near the public, but the media. It doesn't seem to occur to them that everyone else can work out that if they're 'investigating' social media spats, they're not available to deal with actual crime that genuinely concerns punters.

Targeting Law-Abiding Sportsmen and Women

Things have just gotten much much worse, it seems that the police in their infinite wisdom have decided to turn up at your house without any notice demanding to see your firearms. Although they have no right of entry BASC is suggesting people give in to the police and let them in, I suggest you tell them to get a warrant and PLEASE don't let the idea that standing up for your rights somehow will prevent you from having your licence re-issued, it won't as you can easily point to any discrimination if refused.

http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/news/exclusive-unannounced-police-visits-legal-gun-owners-begin-40860

I think it is about time the sport starts standing up for their members and stop rolling over for the police, because if you don't start standing up for ourselves soon we won't even HAVE the right to shoot. Contact your MP and members of the press, this is outrageous discrimination against law-abiding sports-people.