An English Shooters Blog

Interesting to read on they work for you the composition of the Home Office Firearms Forms Working Group, some very good sensible names lets hope for a sensible reworking of the applications & forms for a combined firearms & shotgun application / renewal form.

Home Office Firearms Forms Working Group

Lord Dear (Crossbench)

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Browning on 11 August (WA 465), what is the current membership and work programme of the Home Office Firearms Forms Working Group.

Lord Henley (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Conservative)

The composition of the Home Office Firearms Forms Working Group (HOFFWG) is as follows:
 
Colin Greenwood, British Shooting Sports Council;Peter Taylor, Hertfordshire Police, Firearms Licensing Manager;David Penn, British Shooting Sports Council;Mike Eveleigh, British Association for Shooting and Conservation;Graham Widdecombe, Home Office; andAndy Arnell, Home Office.
 
The group is working to agree a combined application form for the grant or renewal of a firearm and/or shot gun certificate and an application form for the variation of a firearm certificate.

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Stephen Fry signs Sports Charter

I was reading about Stephen Fry signing a Sports Charter to kick homophobia and transphobia out of sport.

They have a Facebook page “I love sport, but I hate homophobia and transphobia“, with very laudable aims.

Perhaps the shooting organisations can get together and have a campaign to kick Hoplophobia out of the sporting world, government and country as a whole.

For those unaware of Hoplophobia, it was a phobia that Colonel Jeff Cooper coined back in 1962, to describe a “mental disturbance characterized by irrational aversion to weapons.” (Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoplophobia).

I wonder if the idea will take off.

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This morning while driving to the train station I was second in a small line of traffic.

The transit van behind me was itching to overtake and aborted a couple of attempts due to on coming cars, the driver was being a bit of a danger but what else do you expect I guess.

His final move was to overtake me and the car in front at high speed and between two corners in a move that makes you think where is a police car when you need one, at that moment the car that was in front became awash with flashing blue lights and the van was pulled over.

Very little puts a smile on my face at stupid o’clock on a Monday morning but seeing stupidity being rewarded did.

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Raspberry Pi

I must admit I am quite excited about the Raspberry Pi.

Back in the early 80’s I loved building & programming my ZX Spectrum. I had the following  ZX 80, ZX 81, ZX Spectrum +2 & ZX Spectrum +3.

Today kids have little concept of how computers function or even what component parts look like and how they hang together, then never build one an they are the ultimate disposable item so there is little interest in what is inside.

They are inundated with Microsoft Windows with little interest in alternatives and the secondary education’s obsession with PowerPoint is killing any interest that teenagers have in the different power and uses of computers.

The Raspberry Pi is different just look at it, it is a bare bones board with all that is needed to run one of the different flavours of Linux. I know I will have a couple even if they will be just toys for me.

The question is will the schools use them, I do hope so we should have the same level of excitement and enthusiasm as the early days (for me) of computing, sadly I can not see the schools being dynamic enough to embrace the change, I hope I am wrong and the Raspberry Pi gains a large educational base rather than just a group of people who are harping back to a “better” time when they where younger.

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Ed Miliband

It looks like the Labour party is beginning to admit that the party is over and that the current measures that are causing pain to everyone are a necessary evil to get the country back on an even footing (from today’s BBC).

It is a pity that they have taken a little too long to come to this conclusion as their opposition to the reality of the situation has done them immeasurable damage as few people can see where they are coming from. The navel gazing they have undertaken since the last election that no one won outright has just pushed them to the side lines as an out of date party that has lost touch with people.

Ed Miliband may have come to the conclusion that things need to change and are more than a little grim at the moment but the rest of the party need to join him, Ed Balls looks to be oblivious of the past years it will be interesting to see if Mr Miliband can get his party to contribute to the rebuilding of the country and finance system or if they will just gear from the sidelines.

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I have a very full life with work, shooting, friends, family, bikes and other hobbies and general upkeep of my house.

Being bored is not something that happens too often but a few days ago while at work I was bored out of my mind and for a while I was quite upset but after a while I began to embrace the moment and found it very relaxing so today I am going to try to be boring for a few moments.

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So today I want over to Coppins for a nice days pistol shooting.

Started off with a .22lr and ended up with a .50AE, has a fanatic day out and would recommend all UK shooters to get over and remind themselves or discover for themselves just how much fun we are missing out on.

I doubt I will win any shooting competitions with the targets but it would be nice to get better but shooting 4 times a year will not do it.

Beretta 87 Target

Beretta 87 Target - First 10 shots

Beretta 87 Target - 100 Shots

AutoMag II - .22WMR - 50 Shots

AutoMag II - .22WMR - 50 Shot target

AutoMag II - Ready to be cleaned

Browning 9mm

Browning 9mm - 50 shots.

Browning 9mm - ready to clean.

.44AMP AutoMag

.44AMP AutoMag - Target 50 shots

AutoMag .45WIN Magnum

AutoMag .45WIN Magnum - 50 shots

AutoMag IV - 10MM Magnum

AutoMag IV

AutoMag V - 20 Shots

Just to show you the difference between the .22lr & 50AE.

50AE & .22lr

As a special treat I also got to have 4 shots with a solid slug shotgun, I have never shot a slid slug before and it was nothing like I thought it would be, it was very enjoyable. I would like to claim the bullseye but sadly mine are at 6 & 7 O’Clock.

Shotgun with a solid slug

Shotgun with a solid slug, my 4 shots are at 6 & 7 O'Clock

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Oh yes forgot to say Happy Christmas to you all, I hope you had a good one.

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David Hanson received a answer to a question yesterday about the effectiveness and efficiency of the issuing of firearm licences to the public by police authorities.

I loved the answer from Nick Herbert:

Under the Firearms Act 1968 responsibility for granting and renewing firearm and shot gun certificates lies with the chief officer of police for the area in which the applicant lives. Guidance issued to the police in 2002 was intended to assist consistency of practice between police forces and makes it clear that in operating the licensing system forces should aim to provide cost-effective systems which ensure the speedy and efficient processing of applications and which take into account good practice and the need to provide best value. The guidance is currently being reviewed and will then be republished.

I have just gone through a standard 5 yearly and it took just under 17 weeks, not that quick. Perhaps we can use this as a defence when the government want some tax papers or payment of some kind 17 weeks is a speedy response after all.

See: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-12-13a.85365.h

One other question that got a response yesterday was over Section 5 firearms, not a full response as the numbers are not held but an interesting question all the same.

See: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2011-12-13a.79943.h

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A couple of things caught my eye on my They Work For You emails this morning.

Firstly it appears that on some time has been put aside on 20th January 2012 for the Firearms (Amendment) Bill – Second reading to go through, it may be worth watching out for this and see what is in it.

Second a couple of questions regarding both historical & target shooting of pistols.

Chris Heaton-Harris asked about the refusal of designated-site status to Northampton target sports club, it is nice to read that they would re look at this refusal as the situation has changed.

It was also nice to see Kate Hoey still banging the drum for target pistol shooting the reply was less than inspiring with little or no substance, not too much surprise there.

The Government seek to draw the distinction between the unlawful use of weapons, which we aim to deal with as robustly as possible, and the lawful possession of such weapons. We have the tightest set of firearms controls in the world, but sporting shooting, particularly in relation to the Olympics, is of course important.

It is nice to see that the sport is seen as important and that there is a recognition that a distinction between the lawful and unlawful use of firearms needs to be made and the sporting use should be supported but I just get the feeling that it is not too high up on the agenda, I would love to be proved wrong mind you.

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