An English Shooters Blog

for a little while now I have wanted to try diving, so last weekend I went up to Stoney Cove and got my open water certification with PADI, with a bit of luck there will be some underwater adventures that I will document on the blog, that also reminds me that I need to start posting again.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Not quite expecting the snow today, three photos to show just how much fell, all from drifts in my back garden.

11in drift

9in drift

29in drift

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

So I find myself in a hotel tonight not doing too much and I get an email from someone about a press release from the Gun Control Network.

While reading it I notice a phone number on the bottom of it and as a sign of how board I am I thought I would put it into Google and see what comes up.

Firstly I can not link GCN press release as Three have banned the GCN site but if you want to read it pop over to: http://psa.bizhosting.com/whats_new.html

Any way back to the point, the number that I put into Google was 0208343 4246 and it was found on the following page:

http://www.192.com/atoz/business/london-n3/management-and-business-consultants/mortimer-associates/28b7d891ed5085f7f1301915a1d1e2adae3fbd04/ml/

It appears that Mortimer Associates are Management And Business Consultants

The number was found on a Rediscovering Palestine webpage linking to Action around Bethlehem Children with Disability.

http://www.rediscoveringpalestine.org.uk/Members%20-%20ABCD.html

The phone number for Action around Bethlehem Children with Disability from their website is different but now but the registered office is the same as Mortimer Associates.

http://www.abcdbethlehem.org/Contact.html

I have never been too clear who the Gun Control Network where in the UK, yes I know the names as do most but it looks like the Gun Control Network is close to Mortimer Associates, I cant find out who they are, there are no companies house records for Mortimer Associates at the address so they are not a company.

It looks like the Gun control Network are using the same agency as Action around Bethlehem Children with Disability as well, most business consultants are not cheap so I guess that beggars the question again about the funding for the Gun Control Network, if they have enough in their reserves to engage the services of a Management And Business Consultants to run their campaigns perhaps the shooting organisations need to look at working together but then we all know that that ill never happen.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Is this news?

The BBC News website today has reported that you can illegally import stun guns into the UK, now when they say import what they are referring to is posting a stun gun to you in the mail, now if anyone wants to break the law it is not difficult, those who break the law are known as criminals so is it news that criminals break the law?

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I read on the BBC today that Scotland are looking to introduce a licensing system for air guns,  I thought the tone from the Scottish government is very telling:

“We are not consulting on the principle of licensing – this will happen. While our primary concern is for public safety, we do not wish to penalise those who use air weapons responsibly and who can demonstrate a legitimate use for a gun, such as sport shooting or pest control.” Mr MacAskill.

Mr MacAskill then went on to say that there are 500,000 unlicensed firearms (air rifles) in Scotland. The BBC article reports that there were 195 offenses involving air weapons recorded in Scotland last year, that works out at 0.039%, now while do not want to see any offenses with air rifles let’s inject some realism in this discussion.

When you look at the current laws surrounding air guns (see below) I wonder if the current laws are being applied.

Also in the news today in the Perthshire advertiser that “Training helps reduce airgun crime”, so given the choice of training or unneeded control a the Scottish government is opting for control.

The current rules / laws around air guns (taken from CH Western ):

Read the rest of this entry »

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

While looking around the net today I have found out that WH Smiths have banned anyone under the age of 14 from buying shooting related press as 14 is the earliest age that someone can own a firearm, it is not the earliest age that anyone can participate in shooting but I guess that is by the by.

Now WH Smiths are well within their rights to apply what ever rules they wish too but if the justification is that 14 is the youngest you can be to own a firearm what other items should fall under this ruling?

• You can not have a licence to drive a moped until you are 16.
• You can not have a licence to drive a car until you are 17.
• You can not have a licence to drive a moped until you are 16.
• You can not drive many larger vehicles / busses until 21 (unless you fit some other rules)
• You can not play the national lottery until you are 16 years old.

So will WH Smiths be restricting all car, motorbike and driving magazines along with anything that carries a National Lottery advert due to the age restrictions or is this rule just for the shooting press?

Please see:- WH Smith bans children from buying shooting magazines

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

For the love of Mike, I have driven all the way to your shop only to be told that you do not stock the item in store but I can go onto your website and have it delivered.

If I wanted it delivered to my house I would have ordered it from your internet site in the relative comfort of my office what I would not have done is pop out of the office during my lunch drive the 20 miles round trip to buy it so I could use it today, it is not as if you have said that the item is only available on the website according to the 19 year Kevin (I kid you not) the model I want has never been stocked in the shop, and yes if was a Halfords super not just a small store.

Halfords how you have disappointed me and no I will not be ordering it from your website but rest assured I will be ordering it from someone.

So next time I read about you and other large companies decrying the rise of internet selling I will have no sympathy for you at all.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Over the last few years I have gradually been moving to the cloud using services from both Google & Microsoft.

I am big fan of Gmail & other Google services for my personal use and stick to Microsoft for running a business.

One of the services I use from Google is iGoogle, this fantastic cloud based home page that you can access from anywhere in any browser and have personalised content in it and I use it every day without fail.

Google have made an amusement that iGoogle is going to close in a few months (31 July 2012) and the service will be lost, and while Google have given more than enough notice for me to find a new way to do things I am still a little miffed as I have grown reliant on a fantastic service.

So what does the withdrawal of iGoogle teach me, well one of the things I have said for many years is you get what you pay for so perhaps I should not be too surprised when things like this happen, I read a fantastic article that had the following words of wisdom contained within it:

“The fracas serves as a useful reminder that cloud-based services exist at the convenience of their owners, not their users.” (http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2012/07/igoogle-users-imad-about-planned-closure.php)

So this little inconvenience will move me to self hosting of some of the services that Google provides for free and can withdraw at will when ever it no longer sees a use or enough demand for them. It will cost me a few pounds each year but just what price do you put on your own destiny.  The most difficult one will be Gmail and I will need to think a little about the best way to deal with that one.

So I will personally move my reliance on iGoogle into a self hosted portal where I can have my window on the world wide web accessible regardless of location without the need for a free service but what about my use of the cloud in business.

Well for business use I have a very different relation with the cloud, I run my own domain with my own email, I store all of my documents locally with some of they synced with the cloud as needed. I use the Microsoft live.com service to pull my emails’ from my server so I can work with email on diffrent devices without compromising the original source of the emails’ and my emailes are downloaded to Outlook so I have a local copy  that I can archive and keep. To my mind the pick & mix nature of my business use of the cloud is the best of both worlds, you have the ability to use the cloud but if a service was removed like iGoogle it would be a little annoying but not a problem.

And perhaps that is the point of this post, the cloud is a fantastic idea and while it is in vogue there will be lost of free services but as soon as a service falls out of favour then it will be withdrawn, I doubt that when iGoogle is removed from service that anyone will mind as there will be a project to replace or replicate the service but I wonder how many others will think that is Google can remove a well used & loved service then what else can they remove.
I guess if you are master of your own data that is the way to be, use the free cloud services to make life a little easier but becoming dependent on services that can and will be removed when the wind changes may not b the best way forward.

Just imagine if Google was to say the free Gmail accounts will become a thing of the past in 6 months and then offered a pay service of £2.00 a month, how difficult would it be to move away?

Now I am not saying that Gmail is moving to a pay model but it is worth remembering that Google is there to make money and if a free service they supply no longer contributes towards the generation of money then what life will it have and how much would be willing to pay to keep it going.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

They work for you is a fantastic service, most days I get an email from them with links to different debates & questions most of them are not of interest but every now and then a nugget of a question comes up and today is no exception.

Jerry Donaldson a DUP MP for the Lagan Valley has asked the Secretary of State for Defence about the arrangements for civilian gun clubs to gain access to MOD ranges to shoot along with a very well worded question asking how long it takes on average for the club members to under go a counter terrorism check to gain access to the MOD facility.

Now we all know that firearms licensing is quite a process where the police look into your suitability to hold firearms and you are granted or declined your firearms certificate as a result but as far as I am aware I am not too sure that I have ever undergone a counter terrorism check (CTC) to gain access to a MOD site so I can shoot on it.

If this website is accurate http://www.certes.co.uk/counter-terrorist-check-jobs and I see no reason why it should not be I think I would have remembered filling out the form and waiting the upto 6 months to gain such a clearance, I would also have remembered going through the motions every 3 years to get it renewed.

It is interesting to read that Andrew Robathan did not say that the counter terrorism check is not undertaken by members of a club but then again perhaps it is part of the standard Firearms Licensing application that is undertaken every 5 years by all firearms certificate holders, I do not know.

I wonder if Jerry Donaldson will be asking a follow up question as in my mind Andrew Robathan has sidestepped the question, perhaps all club members wishing to shoot on an MOD range will need to apply for a CTC check before that can go onto MOD ranges, and before you say no worries this does not apply to me Bisley is still classed as an MOD range.

Anyway I will leave you with the question & answer:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-06-12b.110113.h

Jeffrey M Donaldson DUP member for Lagan Valley
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many firing ranges are operated by (a) his Department and (b) the Defence Infrastructure Organisation; on how many such ranges licensed civilian gun clubs are not permitted regular access; for what reasons civilian gun clubs are not given regular access to certain ranges; on how many such ranges licensed civilian gun clubs are required to undergo counter terrorism check vetting; and how long it took on average for vetting of civilian gun clubs for access to defence firing ranges in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans), Defence & Conservative member for South Leicestershire:

holding answer 11 June 2012

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) operates and manages 542 firing ranges.

MOD ranges are made available for use by civilian gun clubs only when there is spare capacity. Military training requirements always take precedence. All gun clubs must be licensed and it is an individual Station Commander’s responsibility to approve or deny access to their station.

Access to all military sites is subject to strict security arrangements.

Figures on the duration for vetting of civilian gun clubs, is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

So do we have some new proposals around firearms on the way or this this just a fob off from George Young?

They work for you have reported on the following exchange in the house:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-05-24a.1285.0#g1294.5

Grahame Morris (Labour MP for Easington)

May we have a statement on gun law? It is some time since the Home Affairs Committee, chaired by my right hon. Friend Keith Vaz, issued a report on firearms control. There were some terrible events in my constituency on new year’s day, and I think it is time that we had an opportunity to question the Home Secretary on the Government’s intentions and on how we can best protect public safety.

George Young (Leader of the House of Commons & Conservative MP for North West Hampshire)

The Government would normally respond to a Select Committee report within a given number of weeks—I think that it is eight weeks—and I hope that we responded in time to that report. However, I will raise the hon. Gentleman’s concern about gun law with the Home Secretary, and will ask her to write to him setting out our proposals in that important area.

It will be interesting to see if there are any new proposals or if things will continue as they are.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites