New shotgun legislation..
So the Government has announced that there will be a public consultation on the progress of whether to make Shotguns come under the same legislation as Section 1 Firearms. This will be the biggest swipe at the shooting community in the last 50 years. The shooting organisations have already prophesised that approx 40% of the Shotgun License holders will just give up and not bother renewing. The Gun Trades Associations are also thinking the same with shop closures and redundancies. What this change of law means to us is that you will have to get permission BEFORE you purchase another Shotgun not as now where you buy one and then register it with your local police force. You will have to seek permission to use your gun on land not already authorised to you. There will be other restrictions that have as yet not been divulged . BUT....I hasten to add all is not lost. It is going to public consultation which means that us License holders can have a say as to why it shouldn't go ahead. That is the easy part. The hardest part is to get EVERY person involved in any aspect of shooting to declare their support against this law change. There are many, many thousands of people who are entitled and qualified to make their feelings know when the time comes. It is important that WE, YOU and I make sure that we spread the word amongst every facet of the shooting world. There will only be ONE chance. If everyone sits on their hands we will be doomed forever. The thin end of the wedge. One of the major shooting organisations has 150,000 members. Their biggest ever vote by the membership was just 50,000 only a third. If we don't do it for ourselves, it won't get done. Copy this and paste it on your own/and your shooting sites. Write to your local mp please Best wishes to you all.
Im not a shotgunner myself but I think its important to stick together as a shooting community and help make sure our awful gun laws dont any worse because rest assured rifle shooters they will come for us next!
Link please to Gov site making the recommendation?
Edit: can't find anything specific. A lot of noise at the beginning of the year.
It helps if we have links.
I say this as an FAC/SGC holder with an open ticket and a very friendly FEO… but I’m kind of giving up on owning guns long term, can’t imagine what it’s like for you guys who have to jump through hoops
Completely agree. Makes me laugh when people have crazy long range builds that cost an insane amount and they can only shoot them on 1/2 ranges In the country. It’s not something you can sustain no matter how much you enjoy it. I’d understand it if hunting was more widely accessible and your average shooter could go out and take a few deer, but even that is a secret club. I’ve spent thousands on my rabbit shooting rig thermal etc, looking back I just think what did I spend all that for, go twice a year now 🤣🤣
It's inconvenient but im very invested in the hobby nothing is gunna stop me owning my guns besides them outright banning it! If this is the last nail in the coffin for you im sorry but your just not that into shooting
I’m sure they will outright ban them eventually, that’s the end goal.
I’m not into shooting as much as I was once yes, I’ve owned everything, shot everything and that’s against the backdrop of legislation getting more restrictive, the cost of all facets shooting going up dramatically (my first pheasant season cost me £600 for 10 days, they’re now over £1000 PER DAY. A round of 6.5 used to be less than a quid, now they’re triple that), lead bans, public opinion turning on it as a hobby, gutting the general license, the difficulty of finding land to do rough/pest shooting on… the list just goes on and on, and that’s all ignoring the inevitable specter that all this money I’ve spent on rifles, fancy shotguns, thermals, NV will at some point all be rendered worthless.
I genuinely hope you enjoy it while you can, I hope I’m wrong.
As I've long said if you care enough to get an FAC in this day and age you probably care enough to leave this sinking ship.
I saw BASC met with my MP who happens to be the current Policing Minister to discuss their opposition.
I doubt there’s many other shooters in our constituency (fairly urban London like a lot of similar Labour seats) but I for one will be looking to meet my MP to put forward as many of our concerns as possible on this issue. I will do my part in lobbying someone who could be critical in this decision.
Is anyone shocked, it'll be airguns, deactivated, and bows next.
When will the Government conduct a public consultation on repealing the handgun / semi-auto ban?
There is overwhelming support for legalising pepper spray, they never will as they want people to be victims, why would they want to legalise a banned firearm? Encouraging martial skills in the population? That's the opposite of wat they want.
Not a chance
When society decays to the point that the general public feel genuinely afraid. People tend to remember why guns are useful when they don't feel safe.
For sporting use? Never. That's a one-way street.
Unfortunately labour will sell it as safety and saving money, even though it adds no extra safety or saves money for an appalling service we’re funding ourselves.
Hopefully if reform gets in the next election they’ll undo it. If greens get it we’re double screwed.
I think it’ll be like the fox hunting ban, they’ll still do it even when there’s a massive rally to show they’re not in support.
Tbf beating up on law abiding sportsmen and women is at least a bipartisan issue and great politics - doesn't piss off many voters and you get to look tough on crime or something. It's nonsense of course, but most of politics is.
Doubt reform are getting in next time, but who knows.
I don’t think shooting will be banned anytime soon.
A piece in the Financial Times today says 553k people in the UK are involved in shooting, it contributes £3.3bn to the economy and creates 67k jobs.
A quarter of the 553k are stalkers who are very important to the goal to shoot 250k annually in Scotland to hit biodiversity targets.
This was obviously going to happen, but I was honestly expecting long-barreled handguns and .50 BMG rifles to go first.
It's more or less inevitable that shotguns will be made S1 at some point in the near future, no matter how much of a stink gun owners kick up. I don't think there is any real legal recourse, the only strategy is to attempt to reason with unreasonable people who have a phobia of guns, and dislike gun owners.
It's a pity, because there are a lot of historic shotguns that people probably won't be able to keep hold of if they go over to S1, due to the need to justify every gun.
I'm sorry but this is sensible.
As far as I can determine since the Cumbria Shootings every single UK killing with a legally-held firearm has been with a Section 2 shotgun, held by someone with only an SGC. In every single case ad far as I am aware , these killings have been domestic violence.
The proposed changes bring SGCs in line with FACs, and the requirements are not burdensome nor are they unreasonable.
As per any public consultation for an agenda that needs to be pushed through, the consultation will only be presented quietly and in a short time period to those most likely to give an opinion in support of the direction they wish it to go.
I thought it was to have the checks be the same but the rest of section 2 remains as before
I suppose the flipside is as you now "need" an FAC for section 2 shotguns all legitimate uses of section 2 will effectively be a "reason" for section 1. Given that likely section 2 guns would be "grand fathered" as the various banned guns (e.g. TACs and section 58's which became section 7), as in you're "reason" was you needed it to keep the item.
This would lead to lots of 1:1 variations and people abandoning low capacity shotguns pretty much whole sale as why not have an 8 + 1 if its FAC either way? Or why not have a 14 inch over under if its section 1 either way?
While the purpose is to harm the shooting community it may have some unintended effects.
That being said I will reiterate, this is the way shooting is going in the UK, it will all eventually be banned, so plan accordingly (and no reform will not reverse this if they get into power, sorry I wish it was otherwise but if wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets).
In theory, I am not against having one certificate for everything, as long as it is done correctly. The probable intention is to restrict Shotguns as much as firearms are and that will be terrible. However, if it is done sensibly, we can have 1 ticket but keep the same rules with SG's. Shooting on land with just permission, 72 hour rule, no slots required, ammo storage etc. As long as all of that stays the same, I am all for 1 ticket.
2 separate pages. One for shotguns and one for FAC slots. Those with just SG's have an FAC page but its empty. If they want to get something section 1 they just need a variation rather than applying for a whole new certificate. It COULD work very well. But I doubt it will!
So if they become section one will we have to have land checked and added to our license before we go bash a few pigeons. For me that’s the worst part about owning my rifle. Can’t just go out and have a pop