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Air Gun licensing in Scotland.


hazza1304

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They've been talking about it for a while, and for a keen shooter of both powder burners and air rifles, this worries me. There's completely no need for it TBH, small fry in comparison to the illegal firearms. You can also bet that the only people who will bother with the licensing will be the typical law abiding shooter anyway.

Thing is, if it's happening up there, how long do we have before similar over the top measures are brought in?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20720203

Anyone on here affected by it?

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It'll never happen.

Would be impossible to enforce, already half a million air guns so how can they make every owner apply for a licence ??

I was one of the many who had to hand in our hand guns when they were banned, cost the goverment millions in compensation payments.

An air rifle is a deadly weapon and can cause serious harm, I think it's a good idea, may stop little chats getting hold of them and shooting innocent people

No it isnt, Its the moron pulling the trigger thats the problem not the gun

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It'll never happen.

Would be impossible to enforce, already half a million air guns so how can they make every owner apply for a licence ??

I was one of the many who had to hand in our hand guns when they were banned, cost the goverment millions in compensation payments.

No it isnt, Its the moron pulling the trigger thats the problem not the gun

^ soo true

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I've got to say I do think they've not planned it through particularly well either. BUT it happened with the pistol ban, yes on a smaller scale and easier due to the fact they were already licensed but it still happened. In fact handgun crime has risen since.

As for saying their deadly weapons so are knives and I'd rather be shot with an air rifle than stabbed.

Source: http://psa.bizhosting.com/Interesting.html

Edited by hazza1304
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ive got a psp webley air rifle sniper sights red dot lazer and the only thing i shot at is targets up at the gun range it was fun in the day got bored and the police turned up to watch... Then check your kit and how we transported it. One wrong move and get nicked

john

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Attempts at gun control are always doomed to failure.

Shooting someone with a legal weapon, including air rifles, is illegal.... In the UK, if you shoot at someone, threaten them etc. you are breaking the law. Whats the point in controlling who can own the weapon when misuse is illegal? Misuse is what they are trying to stop.

the end result is they make it harder for people to legally own the things, resulting in more illegally owned weapons. Lets face it...the illegally owned weapons are more of a threat than legally owned ones.

It's either an attempt at generating revenue through taxation ( I bet the licences won't be free... ) or just an attempt at currying popular political support by picking on a minority group

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they shoulds be banned cus of the damage they can do in the hands of a idiot they can kill

how there goin to clamp down on this i dont know... if your court with a real gun your get 5 yrs+

where do you draw the line on this to what end.....but what do i know NOWT

john

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I've owned hand guns and hunting rifles still own 2 lee Enfield rifles and shoot down at bisley.ive never had the urge to go out and shoot someone.its the idiots behind the trigger that cause these tragedies.firearms be it air or cartridge should be banned unless you have proof that you use them at an affiliated club why else would you need one.

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Licensing would be a nightmare, there are thousands of these things lying around in peoples lofts going rusty. How are they going to ensure that these people are given the chance to license there air guns. looking at other Items, I own a take down bow that would cause serious injury and I can carry that down the street. then there's the fleet helis I own which are basically flying carbon machetes and a 10 year old child can buy one. I could go on and on with it.

At the end of the day It's the person controlling it that mis-uses it not the tool.

Edited by Joe Bailey
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firearms be it air or cartridge should be banned unless you have proof that you use them at an affiliated club why else would you need one.

I don't shoot at a club, because I have a 1200+ acre permission 5 minutes down the road and a few other smaller ones scattered about and I use them to control the pests on the farm and for my own enjoyment. Just because I'm not shooting on a rifle range doesn't mean I shouldn't need one - In fact surely if there was only one reason to own firearms pest control/hunting should be that primary reason.

The damage caused by rabbits alone costs the farm a lot per year and shooting them helps keep the numbers down.

I just don't think there's any need to be licensing them on a wide scale basis.

Edited by hazza1304
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I don't shoot at a club, because I have a 1200+ acre permission 5 minutes down the road and a few other smaller ones scattered about and I use them to control the pests on the farm and for my own enjoyment. Just because I'm not shooting on a rifle range doesn't mean I shouldn't need one - In fact surely if there was only one reason to own firearms pest control/hunting should be that primary reason.

The damage caused by rabbits alone costs the farm a lot per year and shooting them helps keep the numbers down.

I just don't think there's any need to be licensing them on a wide scale basis.

I worked on a farm years ago and went out shooting rabbits but it has no effect on the amount of crops damaged by rabbits they breed faster than you can shoot them same with pigeons which do far more damage.i ended up with a ferret and a load of purse nets which was far more effective the shotgun was useless after the first round as you waited up to an hour for the rabbits to re appear

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This has been around for years, I treat my air weapons as a firearm locked away in a police spec cabinet bolted to the floor and walls I'm fully insured and belong to a club, my guns are chrono'ed once a month to make sure there in the limits, its like anything it only takes 1 person to do something stupid and that's it.

From the public view all guns are bad no matter what thay are, things like today's events in the USA add to the fear (8 teachers and 19 elementary kids killed

Licensing wise it will put off the hobbyist or any new blood comming into the scene due to costs as it is firearms offices can't cope with fac holders let alone airgun owners

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I don't shoot at a club, because I have a 1200+ acre permission 5 minutes down the road and a few other smaller ones scattered about and I use them to control the pests on the farm and for my own enjoyment. Just because I'm not shooting on a rifle range doesn't mean I shouldn't need one - In fact surely if there was only one reason to own firearms pest control/hunting should be that primary reason.

The damage caused by rabbits alone costs the farm a lot per year and shooting them helps keep the numbers down.

I just don't think there's any need to be licensing them on a wide scale basis.

This is my case as well.

Its been said we should only be allowed to own and use guns if we join a club, Why should i ??

I pay to shoot on the land i shoot on, And i shoot for enjoyment as well as pest control. Never been into paper punching.

You seem to be blaming the gun when in fact its the irresponsible owners that should be sorted, not the law abiding owners.

But its the same with most hobbies, the few bad ones always get more press than the thousands of good ones.

A gun never killed anyone, the guy pulling the trigger does that.

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I worked on a farm years ago and went out shooting rabbits but it has no effect on the amount of crops damaged by rabbits they breed faster than you can shoot them same with pigeons which do far more damage.i ended up with a ferret and a load of purse nets which was far more effective the shotgun was useless after the first round as you waited up to an hour for the rabbits to re appear

I know it's not the way of removing all of them that said we've made a large impact on numbers. 140 odd last year this year we've only managed about 35/40. We used to spend more time shooting than driving but not now it's a long drive between the few places that still have scarce amounts of them left. It's probably a number of factors but we're still impacting on it. We've shot them all year round too, and don't leave the youngsters.

Edited by hazza1304
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This is my case as well.

Its been said we should only be allowed to own and use guns if we join a club, Why should i ??

I pay to shoot on the land i shoot on, And i shoot for enjoyment as well as pest control. Never been into paper punching.

You seem to be blaming the gun when in fact its the irresponsible owners that should be sorted, not the law abiding owners.

But its the same with most hobbies, the few bad ones always get more press than the thousands of good ones.

A gun never killed anyone, the guy pulling the trigger does that.

The trouble is anyone of us can become one of those irresponsible owners if something in our life causes it.i personally don't think it will ever happen due to the amount of air weapons out there.

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I worked on a farm years ago and went out shooting rabbits but it has no effect on the amount of crops damaged by rabbits they breed faster than you can shoot them same with pigeons which do far more damage.i ended up with a ferret and a load of purse nets which was far more effective the shotgun was useless after the first round as you waited up to an hour for the rabbits to re appear

the voice of reason !

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The trouble is anyone of us can become one of those irresponsible owners if something in our life causes it.i personally don't think it will ever happen due to the amount of air weapons out there.

id rather face an irresponsible owner of a balloon....than a thing that can hurl metal at me ...(because thats all they could get their hands on)

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Rabbit hunting at my uncles farm with a shotgun I reckon we ended up doing more damage than we prevented the rabbits doing! The problem with a shotgun in an orchard is that the pellets that don't hit the rabbits tend to hit the trees instead! Switching to an air rifle was better - the improved range helped as did the single pellet nature, but in the end the best solution didn't involve shooting at all. A couple of ferrets and an owl did in weeks what we'd failed to achieve in years - nature is much better at pest control than humans.....

Anyway - that was a legitimate use, so its something you would get a license for. I no longer have a shotgun, or indeed a license as I no longer have a legitimate need for one. I too used to own a handgun which was surrendered in the ban after Dunblane - I wasn't pleased at the time, but the years since have changed my opinion. It was a .22LR Beretta target pistol - sole purpose being to punch little holes in a piece of paper, so did I really NEED it? In the wrong hands it could have been deadly, in the right hands its not actually that useful so why risk it failing into the wrong hands?

This ruling comes with a good reason - its not actually true that illegal gun crime is rising. Crime that appears to involve guns is rising, but police suspect that the majority of these are actually replicas, airsofts and airguns rather than true firearms. This is a major problem to police because when someone commits a crime with a replica weapon the police HAVE to assume its real, yet if they shoot the person they are blasted in the press for getting it wrong. The solution is to make all such things illegal, so if you are waving around something that looks like a gun its clear you are up to no good.

The NRA has a saying - If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns. The UK police have amended that - If guns are outlawed anyone with a gun is an outlaw (so you can shoot them)

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id rather face an irresponsible owner of a balloon....than a thing that can hurl metal at me ...(because thats all they could get their hands on)

Although the logic in your statement is undeniable, in practical terms it just doesn't work like that.

If someone decides they want to get their hands on an air gun, they will. Full stop.

All excessive licensing and government knee jerk bans do is hurt the legitimate hobbyists and owners. They do nothing to stem the illegal flow and use of such weapons in crime.

Also, if someone just "clicked" that bit too far, there's a million things to hurt/kill people with. Everyday items, like your 1/1 car, an awesomely dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. So should they be banned too? Along with kitchen utensils, hand tools, our RC's particularly heli's, and electricity! As electricity is responsible for many deaths when misused!

My point is, the "OMG it's dangerous, ban it!!" Statement is society's answer to everything, and it's political, nothing more.

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Whilst to some extent thats true - the point I'm making is that your average modern urban civilian has no actual requirement for a gun, air or gunpowder. There is still a legitimate place for the shotgun, and perhaps a high powered air rifle in rural areas for pest control, but even then its rarely the best method.

However I do need a car, and kitchen knives, and a drill, and electricity. Yes they can be weapons too, but they aren't primarily designed for that use (whereas even target rifles/handguns are basically designed to make holes in whatever they hit) so restricting them would be a significant hardship for little gain.

I suppose that does mean the future is questionable for RC helicopters though.....

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Unbelievable how many people still blame the perp, not the gun. If the guy has no gun, he can't shoot people, simple. Look at Fridays events, could he have done that with electricity? A kitchen knife? An RC heli? Of course not. Take away the firearms, particularly the assault rifles, and the chance of the next massacre (it will happen) is greatly reduced.

Just recently been thinking about air rifle ownership, joining a club etc, so please don't think I'm completely anti-gun, but something has to give. Hopefully not air rifles.

BTW, a day after the massacre and ammo sales in the US out strip supply! America has a problem. Let's hope it don't spread.

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