Scottish Airgun Licensing, Urgent Help Needed, Please Read

[PeakOil 352]

A little bump for this cause as the March 15th deadline for responding looms and BASC just sent me an email to remind me.

 

http://www.basc.org.uk/en/media/key_issues.cfm/cid/5D1AF869-D20A-446E-9564AECD44780137

 

The Scottish Government wants to license all low-powered airguns in
Scotland and to ban people plinking in their own gardens. They even want
English and Welsh shooters to apply for visitor permits before they
take airguns to Scotland.

BASC is opposed to these proposals but they might go ahead if we
don’t all do something about it. A public consultation on the proposals
closes on 15 March.

All shooters in the UK can show solidarity with Scottish airgunners by getting involved in one or more of the following ways:

1. respond to the consultation
2. write to politicians
3. sign an online petition
4. join a Facebook discussion

Key battles against WHSmith’s age restrictions on the purchase of
shooting magazines and Royal Mail’s ban on the carriage of guns have
recently been won thanks to the mobilisation of tens of thousands of
shooters across the UK. An even greater effort will be needed to
overturn Scottish airgun licensing proposals.

Find out more by reading the guidance in the four briefing sections below.

[PeakOil 352]

 

1. Respond to the consultation

The

Scottish Government has confirmed to BASC that anyone can respond to

this consultation, whether they live in Scotland or anywhere else in the

UK and that responses using our template will be accepted in place of

their respondent information form.

Your response can be as short or as long as you wish but BASC advises

that people start their response by objecting in principle to the

licensing of low powered airguns in Scotland.

BASC template for responses by email

Copy the text in the template below and use it to email your consultation response to airweaponlicensing@scotland.gsi.gov.uk by 15th March 2013.

Dear Sir/Madam,

This email contains my individual response to the Scottish Government

consultation on Proposals for Licensing Air Weapons in Scotland

I am providing the following details in place of filling out a Respondent Information Form.

Name:

Postal Address:

Email:

My answers to the Permission questions are as follows.

Do you agree to your response being made available to the public (in

Scottish Government library and/or on the Scottish Government website)?

[choose one of the following four options as your answer]

• No.
• Yes, make my response, name and address all available
• Yes, make my response available, but not my name and address
• Yes, make my response and name available, but not my address

We will share your response internally with other Scottish Government

policy teams who may be addressing the issues you discuss. They may

wish to contact you again in the future, but we require your permission

to do so. Are you content for Scottish Government to contact you again

in relation to this consultation exercise?

[choose one of following options as your answer]

• No.
• Yes

My response to the consultation is as follows.

[state your opposition in principle to

the proposals and add any further points if you wish - the sections

below give more context in case you need it]

BASC's view

It is estimated and accepted by Scottish Government that there are

half a million low powered airguns in Scotland. Bringing all or even a

fraction of these into a licensing scheme will be an extremely difficult

task which will involve the use of extensive police resources. BASC is

also concerned that further regulation will discourage many from

starting shooting, which is a vital part of the Scottish countryside and

rural economy. Airguns are an essential tool for pest control where

more powerful firearms cannot be used and they are used for training and

target shooting up to Olympic standards.

Recently published statistics on recorded firearms offences in

Scotland show that offences involving airguns have fallen for the fifth

successive year. Over the five year period from 2006/07 this represents a

71% decrease.

Given the success of educational campaigns by the Scottish Government

and awareness raising and training delivered by shooting organisations

together with the police’s enforcement of the existing legislation, BASC

does not see the justification for further legislation in this area.

BASC's draft response

Click here for BASC's draft response

The above link will open a new webpage containing BASC's draft

response to the consultation. This contains BASC's opening statement,

the consultation questions and BASC's answers. This webpage might help

you write your own response. You can also make suggestions on improving

the draft response.

2. Write to politicians

Click here to write to all your elected representatives

The above link will take you to the 'Write to Them' website. By

submitting your postcode you can then send a message to your

councillors, your member of parliament and your members of the European

Parliament. If you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland you will

also be able to send a message to members of your national parliament or

assembly. If you live in Scotland it is especially important that you

send a message to your elected representatives in the Scottish

Parliament. Your message could be the same text you have used to respond

to the consultation. You could also request a meeting to discuss your

concerns. Keep chasing all your elected representatives until they

respond.

3. Sign a petition against the proposals

Click here to sign a petition against the proposals

This petition has been set up by Dave Ewing, a Scottish shooter.

People can sign the petition and leave comments. The petition is hosted

on the Change.org website. Dave will submit a copy of the petition as

part of a detailed response to the consultation. To date over 8,000

people have signed the petition. Every signature generates an email that

is sent to the offices of all the main political parties in Scotland.

4. Join a discussion on Facebook

Click here to join a discussion on Facebook

A Facebook page has also been set up by Dave Ewing. There are daily

updates and discussions on the proposals and other topics. To date over

900 people have liked the page and over 200 have contributed to the

discussions. Help raise awareness of the proposals by liking the page

and sharing it with your friends.

5. Your view

If you have any comments on the proposals we would love to hear from

you. Share your views by filling in the comment box below. We will only

show your first name when publishing comments.

[barrywhite 282]

I did sign up ......but god knows how many people did not want MacAskill to release Al Megrahi after killing a plane full of people thats men ,women and children, he did what he wanted stating ,its the Scottish way. MacAskills experts said Megrahi only had short time to live ,that turned out to be three years . I would think a few idiots with air guns filling in an online petition is not going to change his mind one little bit.