An English Shooters Blog

Every now and then I get pulled into an argument about the right to bare arms in the UK and my answer is the same.

Most people do not have an issue with the armed forces defending them selves or the police or oppressed people who have dictators as leaders, the majority of people who I get into the right to bare arms argument with will say that that is OK.

The question is then one of do you need the right to bare arms in the United Kingdom and how bad would it need to be before it is acceptable, so the only area of debate moves away from the right to bare arms as we have established that it is right for people to defend them selves when needed and onto if there is a need for the right to bare arms in the United Kingdom and that to my mind is a different discussion.

Everyone tells me that the United Kingdom is a safe place to live when we compare it to places like the USA and South Africa and I am was happy to agree with them.

One of the big problems is the availability of comparable figures to quantify such a statement.

It looks like we may have them.

According to The Sun

BRITAIN was officially named Europe’s most violent nation last night.

We also suffer more violence than people in the US or even SOUTH AFRICA, figures show.

A shocking 2,034 per 100,000 people suffer violent crime in the UK, compared to 466 in America and 1,609 in troublespot South Africa.

…

And the UK rate has increased by a shocking 77 per cent since 1998.

Now while I am not a fan of The Sun as they have a tendency to make things up or at least report them in a sensational way the numbers were released by the European Commission, and they are quite a dry organisation. I need to look at the report / figures in more detail but if they are true and our disarmed society is such a violent place should we rethink a few things?

Should we look to our own defence as the experiment of disarming (the ban on guns, pocket knives and other laws that where going to stop the violence) people has failed so comprehensively or should we continue down the road of putting the blame on objects rather than the individual.

Perhaps allowing people the tools of defence along with an increase in personal accountability would see the numbers come down.

This is a quote giving some inside to some of the rushed bills in the last few years from the Parliamentary Standards Bill debate on the back of some evidence given to the Kelly committee.

The Kelly committee is looking at rushed bills in the House such as the 1997 Firearms amendment and the 1991 dangerous dogs act and other rushed bills that is expressing an interest with the speed that the bill was passed and that such a bill should never be the subject of a emergency legislation.

It is good that such bad law that only ever impacts the law abiding is being looked at, perhaps this could be the beginning of the end of bad laws, perhaps more consideration will be given when passing laws, perhaps it is just talk, but if this is seen as a bad law, ill thought out and only passed because the public are furious then perhaps it is time for the law to be looked at and relaxed.

It looks as if the compulsion for ID cards may be moving into a thing of the past.

I am happy about this but still a little concerned that there will be compulsion of some sections of society, keeping this will enable the government to say as one section of society have them it would be discriminatory for us not to issue them to everyone.

The question is why the change?

I am sure the cost is part of the reason along with no real “value” to having them after all we all function very well without them, it could be the government reviewing their IT projects and figuring out that the large IT providers just treat them as a R&D budget, I guess the real reasons will never be told, but one thing the spin machine has missed is spinning this into a story about liberty and freedom and I am more than a little surprised at that but then again at least the government are being constant in their lack of care about the peoples liberty, civil rights and freedoms.

I am also glad that I will not become a criminal by refusing to register for the ID card.

A couple of cartoons that I was going to post a few weeks ago, somehow they still look right

While walking to work this morning in London, the iPod began to play Dead London it was quite, hot and I was on my own on the street I was walking on, and as soon as the Journalist said “Abruptly, the sound ceased” the power died on the iPod and all I heard was me walking down the street.

Very spooky.

ULLA

If this report in todays on-line version of the Daily Mail is to be believed then perhaps we will.

“David Cameron will repeal a raft of laws that have eroded civil liberties under plans for the first days of a Conservative government.

The Tory leader yesterday warned Labour has created a ‘control state’ with sweeping powers to intrude into people’s private lives.”

While it is nice to read such words they have yet to appear in an election manifesto, then again they have not published one yet.

Could we be seeing the battle lines drawn for the next election?

Is the Conservative party coming down on the side of civil liberties, will the Labour party join them after all they are doing so many U turns at the moment it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

It is nice to hear the words from Mr Cameron but at the moment that is all they are and words have many different meanings, if the only clear policy choice between the two main parties are as outlined in the report I would hope that people ditch the tribal voting and vote on the kind of country they want to live in, however if the Conservative party win with such promises and then change their minds when they are in power that may just about destroy any remaining trust there is.

I would like to see a full list of acts of parliament that the Conservative would like to repeal along with the commitment promise that this will be done within 100 days or the party will stand down and a new general election called (if they win).

Who knows perhaps we will get the liberty of pistol shooting back.

So the train is running a little late today, no shock in that as regular readers will know but today the excuse was very good.

The train driver has just come on offering the normal we are sorry for the delay to this service and then went on to explain why the train is a little late closing his remarks where “I would like to remind passengers that the big red button marked emergency in the toilets is for emergencies and not the flush the toilet.”

Now is it me?

Now I do not know if this is just me but this advice could be in breach of the terms of my insurance.

Police: Leave car keys out for burglars

Homeowners are being advised to leave their car keys where burglars can find them to avoid risking a violent confrontation.

The surprising crime advice by a senior police officer came after 16-year-old Chris O’Hara was jailed for life for bludgeoning to death George Thornley in a struggle over his car keys.

The 68-year-old was battered with a hammer and had his throat slashed before he was left for dead on the kitchen floor of his home in Clifton, Lancashire.

Now while I am glad that this 16 year old has been jailed he is one of the unlucky ones, the vast majority of crime like this go’s on without punishment almost everyone I know only reports crime to the police when their insurance company want the police reference number for the records and not because a crime has been committed.

Are things so bad that the advice from the police is let them get away with it because you can not / are not able to defend your self and you have no hope of us turning up? I guess so.

Even MP’s are not immune as poor Tobias Ellwood has found out, now he is not a 68 year old man and is also an ex army officer so is not adverse and probably more than capable of standing up for him self than most but even he was involved in a serious attack involving four youths which resulted in him having to go to hospital, from the report on the BBC the point when the gang of 4 kicked off was when he said he would call the police, now to me that shows just how little fear that people have in the police, that lack of fear has a direct relation to the amount of respect they get from the law abiding and that in turn had a direct relation with the type’s of advice they give out.

So when the police say, leave your keys out, the law abiding think that the police have given up even trying to protect them, the law abiding use them as a crime reference issuing service and nothing else and the people who do not abide by the law know that they have carte blanche to do any-ting they wish to do, after all the police have told people to let the criminals do what they want and if you stand in the way the criminals knowing the police advice have the perfect defence “The police told them not to make it difficult for me to steal / defraud / be violent / take whatever I want / do what ever I want (delete as needed) and the silly person got in the way, the police told them not to so what choice did I have but to batter the 68 year old with a hammer and slash his throat”.

Just what kind of a country are we living in?

If you want Independence then have it, but if you do and you have control over your budget you should / can not demand that someone else foots the bill for you.

Call for Westminster to foot bill for swine flu drugs in Scotland

The UK-wide policy is to offer the vaccine to everyone. The estimated cost of an immunisation programme runs to around £100 million – and the Scottish Health Secretary has said that the cost should be met from the UK’s contingency fund

Now I have no issue with devolution (it would be nice to have an English Parliament) but when you have got your split from the Union then you should pay your way and not go back the the Union and drain more cash from it. You either want to play with the Union or you don’t make up your mind.

15 Years ago today

• MPs expect IRA to declare ceasefire within three weeks
• Clean-up for nuclear sites costs pounds 8bn
• ITV withdraws pounds 2.5m bid to televise lottery draw
• Junior doctors want law to enforce 56-hour week
• Heseltine rejects the ‘poisoned chalice’: Challenge to Major over job as party chairman
• Man uses train to amputate his leg

AND

more importantly to me Mrs English Shooter and I where married, I can hardly believe that it has been 15 years that she has put up with me and I would like to say that I am looking forward to the next 15.

Not good reading.

I have just been updating my version of the Java run time and this popped up….

Perhaps the UK government has been caught out and we are not on the embargoed list of countries.

Sadly the camera on my phone can not do it justice.

The King Edward mine Cornwall.

Two quotes came to mind when reading this article in the Telegraph, one of them if from the 60 TV show the Prisoner and it is:

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.”

the second is not a quote more a character from Judge Dread he is Judge Death who comes from Deadworld, where all life has been declared a crime since only the living commit crimes.

So what is this story:

Police ‘arrest innocent youths for their DNA’, officer claims
Hundreds of teenagers are having their DNA taken by police in case they commit crimes later in life, an officer has disclosed.

Now I would like to say that this story is not true and someone has got a little excited or mis understood but there is more than a ring of truth to the story when you take into consideration the governments response to the European Court of Human Rights ruling that a blanket policy of retaining profiles of innocent people indefinitely was illegal, and their concessions was that they would only hold the profiles for 12 years.

So are committing the crime of living, are you happy for this to go on, do you fall in to the if you have nothing to hide camp or will you not be “pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.”.

I hope that one of the main parties will break from the pack and commit to removing this DNA database for people not committed of a crime if they do I am sure they will get into power.

We only get a chance like this once in a while so please get out and vote, if you do not register your opinion then you will been seen as happy with things as they are, if you do not think that any candidate deserves your vote then go and spoil your paper.

So what do shooting clubs, prostitution, sexual services, obscene and restricted material have in common?

According to the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice guidelines quite a bit.

If you pop over to to the PSA website you will see that shooting clubs are in with the company of the aforementioned they also point out that you might wish to give your opinions (politely) to the BCAP Questions 55 & 56 – At BCAP consultation. They are happy to receive responses to the consultation by e-mail, but you will need to include their cover sheet which is in Word format. Their e-mail address for responses is BCAPcodereview@cap.org.uk .

I will be and I suggest you do the same.

The Conservative party have published a document on the web called EXTENDING OPPORTUNITIES A CONSERVATIVE POLICY PAPER ON SPORT.

This PDF file can can find it at: EXTENDING OPPORTUNITIES: A CONSERVATIVE POLICY PAPER ON SPORT

The bit I like is on page 8 where it says the Conservatives would:

Amend firearms legislation to ensure the UK target pistol shooters can train and compete in this country. This will end the absurd situation where we use public money to support athletes to train abroad in an activity banned in this country.

In the last couple of weeks the The Liberal Democrats have come out in support for the The Sportsman’s Association calls for the 2012 games location and now this.

Could we be seeing the beginning of a change of attitudes?

I put this on my Twitter feed last night and have only just got around to the blog.

Georgina in the British Airways Great Britons vote, please visit http://www.greatbritons.ba.com/users/357 and add your vote, she is a lady pistol shooter hoping to shooting in 2012, it is nice to see the judges noteing the legal restrictions.

This is from the site.

Why the judges were impressed

The legal and funding restrictions around Georgina’s training have added some significant hurdles in her ambition for success in 2012. Having re-applied for Great Britons she has shown she will not take no for answer and flights could make all the difference.

——————————————————————————–

I am the British number one Lady Pistol Shooter and I want a London 2012 Olympic medal. This is an awesome challenge in itself, but I have further difficulties to contend with.

One of the two Olympic events I compete in uses a .22 Pistol which is currently banned in the UK since Dunblane 1996. Therefore we are forced to not only compete, but train abroad too. This is task that British Shooters have had to contend with for the past 12 years and but has now been heightened further more due to the recent UK Sport funding in January. British Shooting was hit hard, with an 80% CUT in their allocated money for the four year lead up period to London, of what they had for Beijing. Consequently there are no funds to continue sending me abroad to train / compete and I am having to fund myself.

So how can I improve? How can I win an Olympic medal for my country…..in our very own capital City, if I can’t even train? Trying to train Sport Pistol, the .22 Olympic shooting event at home with my Air Pistol is hopeless. The two guns are as different as chalk and cheese. I liken the situation Brisish Shooters are in to tennis. It is like me training with a Badminton racket at home and then going to Wimbledon and competing with a tennis racket……against Roger Federer!

Winning Great Britons would enable me to travel abroad to train and compete and help me stand on a more equal playing field with my fellow competitors. But more importantly be the lifeline to make my Olympic dream become reality.