For Rifle and Pistol Shooters in the United Kingdom
Action Requested: Section 1 & Section 2 Merger, Parliamentary Debate
On Friday 23rd February, parliament is going to debate combining Sect 1 and Sect 2 Licenses. Can you please contact your MP and make your views known about this proposed change? Below is a brief statement on all the problems this will cause, as well as a link to the current petition that instigated the debate. Please feel free to either use this wording in your e-mail, or amend it as you see fit. It is important to request that your MP attends the debate and argues against the merger. MPs only attend parliament if they have a reason to do so.
Best Wishes,
Ian Barclay – Chairman
Vintage Arms Association
“The direct economic value of shooting to the UK is £3.3 billion and indirect £9.3 billion.”
The proposed merger of Section 1 and Section 2 Firearms Licensing will be debated in parliament on Friday the 23rd February. This merger is projected to cause a dramatic reduction in these figures without any real benefit to public safety. Due to the additional bureaucracy on firearms licensing, there will be a resultant reduction in trade, which will seriously affect all aspects of shooting. This includes rural activities, (where shotguns are farmers tools of trade), game and target shooting, and preserving heritage through collecting. Diminishing shooting will also affect conservation and land management and diminish all indirect related productivity such as hospitality and tourism.
Shooting is a very diverse sport in that it is user friendly across gender, age and ability and can improve physical and mental abilities. We already have some of the most robust firearms laws in the world, which are very well regarded in many other countries. It should be noted that incidents that have occurred in this country over many years, including Plymouth, were largely due to breakdowns in licensing procedure and not inadequate legislation. Crime with licensed firearms is minimal in this country; it is crime with illegal firearms, often drug and gang related, on which police need to focus.
The police firearms licensing departments cannot cope at present due to lack of staff and ineffective I.T. systems. A legislative change, as proposed, would increase the workload to a near impossible level. Thus, it would not improve public safety but may have the reverse effect. Creating a single licensing authority would be more useful and eliminate the variation and lack of consistency between police forces.
Making the Medical Marker mandatory on GPs’ records would also be a positive step in protecting public safety.
The petition that instigated this debate can be found by the following link:
I would be very grateful if you could please attend the debate and argue that the merger is not in the public interest due to the reasons stated above.
Yours faithfully,