Bring back target pistol shooting to the UK mainland ...e-petition

[British Red]

Given the impending Olypics, there is an e-petition to allow UK sportsmen / sportswomen to train with rimfire target pistols in the UK.

I personally feel that this is a sensible move - just .22 rimfire allowed for shooting on proper target ranges.

Rather like knife possession - , quick legislation is often bad legislation. In my view, its a shame our (medal winning) sports teams can no longer train here as a result of legislation made quickly in response to an event that did not involve .22 target pistols.

Anyway, I know opinions on the topic are divided, but wanted to point out the presence of the petition (which I became aware of through the BASC magazine)

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/360

The Home Office should reclassify .22 calibre pistols as Section 1 firearms. This would permit legitimate sportsmen & sportswomen to practice competitive target shooting sports as require by many disciplines, including Olympic qualification, in this country. There would be no risk to the public, sporting firearms are not linked to criminal activity

Red

 

[nuggets]

Is there a pistol shooting catergory in the olympic games red ??????

Begs the question ,how are the other nations going to get on !! assuming there firearms will be confinscated at customs upon entry to the UK !!!

 

[British Red]

Yes there is

They have had to make special permissions for the purpose...out team have to train abroad

My mum was a keen pistol shooter when her shoulder gave out for rifle shooting. I suspect my 5' sliver haired mother does not represent much of a danger to the public, but her pistol was taken along with the rest (despite the fact that the one, awful, incident did not involve .22 target pistols)

Red

 

[shaggystu]

.....there is an e-petition to allow UK sportsmen / sportswomen to train with rimfire target pistols in the UK.......

this seems to imply that UK pistol shooters are having to train abroad at the moment, is that right?

stuart

 

[British Red]

It is indeed Stu

 

[Teepee]

Signed and agreed with. Target shooting should never have been banned in the UK for clubs, I know people who have to leave the country just to practice.

 

[FGYT]

I think any medals won by UK shooting team should be reallocated on the league table to the country they trained in

tho to be honest I feel we shouldn't put a team in and the NSRA etc who will be asked to run the ranges should refuse to

either they are illegal for the British people to use or they arnt
they have already wasted the money and facilities that will be set up for the Clay shooting by setting it up miles form anywhere and insisting it be taken apart after ( so much for legacy) instead if investing in say Bisley the home of British shooting and already has a massive Clay system set up for the Commonwealth games a few years back

 

[shaggystu]

Yes there is

They have had to make special permissions for the purpose...out team have to train abroad ......

complete and utter insanity.
so taxpayer's money is being used to promote a global competition being held on british soil using "weapons" that we made illegal years ago. i always thought that the olympics were supposed to be inspirational in some way, what's the point in inspiring people to participate in an event that's all but impossible to actually participate in legally. i really hope that we do well in the pistol shooting, and that our success (combined with the e-petition) forces people to look again at our gun laws

i'm off to bang my head against the wall now to see if that helps to make sense of this at all

stuart

 

[British Red]

I tend to feel we should have said "we can't have the Olympics as some of the sports that have to be hosted are illegal in this country". However, if we can begin to reverse bad legislation, through the appropariate use of the democratic process, it can't be anything but a good thing!

 

[shaggystu]

......tho to be honest I feel we shouldn't put a team in and the NSRA etc who will be asked to run the ranges should refuse to

either they are illegal for the British people to use or they arnt........

agreed, and, agreed

stuart

 

[Silverback 1]

Signed a few weeks ago. Petition seems to be taking it's time getting a head of steam but that may well change now it has been published in this quarters BASC magazine, i

just wish they could have given it a bit more clout than a few lines on page 9. It would be great to shoot target pistol again, even smallbore, i will never forget the day that i

had to surrender 4 handguns in at the local nick, even the bobby was sympathetic, let's hope that justice will prevail one day and that people will once again be able to

participate in a superb sport/discipline.

 

[British Red]

I hope it picks up Silverback. It would be nice to see logic rule the day. As you say, it would be great to see pistols back - especially for some shooters who find rifles difficult. A number of disbled shooters I know cannot manage rifles but were fine with pistols. I would love to see their sport returned to them.

Red

 

[rik_uk3]

Signed up.

 

[Large Sack]

Signed a few weeks ago. Petition seems to be taking it's time getting a head of steam but that may well change now it has been published in this quarters BASC magazine, i

just wish they could have given it a bit more clout than a few lines on page 9. It would be great to shoot target pistol again, even smallbore, i will never forget the day that i

had to surrender 4 handguns in at the local nick, even the bobby was sympathetic, let's hope that justice will prevail one day and that people will once again be able to

participate in a superb sport/discipline.

Agree entirely. Signed up a couple of weeks ago. Lost a beautiful pair of Browning HP's myself. My mother converted to pistols after her back started to play up...but she still has a sneaky plink every now and again with the kids airpistols (she's 80 in a few months)
Nice one Red for bring ing this up.

Cheers
Sack

 

[sandbender]

Only 2,980 signatures! Well there are 2,981 now.

 

[Soundmixer]

One more from me.
Never got over losing my 1911 custom hardballer, just when I was getting handy with it.
Damn right we should have target shooting back in the country that invented it.
I do like the idea of confiscating guns on entry to Britain though - bit of a playing field leveller!

 

[Silverback 1]

Agree entirely. Signed up a couple of weeks ago. Lost a beautiful pair of Browning HP's myself. My mother converted to pistols after her back started to play up...but she still has a sneaky plink every now and again with the kids airpistols (she's 80 in a few months)
Nice one Red for bring ing this up.

Cheers
Sack

Good on your Mum and more power to her.

It would be nice to think that one day common sense will prevail and we will be able to watch our kids/Grandkids shooting handguns of any calibre competitively again.

I'm not a political animal but at least the present administration are appearing to be a bit more sensible than the last shower we had in with regards to shooting/fieldsports.

Better leave it at that, or i will be breaking the politics rule and upsetting the boss!

 

[British Red]

This is the weird thing about perception and reality.

"Perception":People who shoot are wanna be militaristic Rambo types

Reality

My mum taught me to pistol shoot.

To me this is the same thing as the knife laws. Its the law abiding that suffer - and ignorance of who knife user (or target shooters) actually are that is the problem.

I hope even non shooters are supportive of reversing the tide of more and more restrictive laws.

Thanks everyone for supporting the petition and commenting on the thread

 

[bb07]

I read this post with great interest since the mindset of banning objects rather than addressing the real problems seems to be a worldwide issue.
I wish you luck. It can be changed, (having our long gun registry in the process of being scrapped shows sensible changes are possible), but it's certain to be a long battle.

 

[drewdunnrespect]

Signed seeled and delivered and shared on facebook