Happy New Year from Firearms UK

Please vote: support the troops, defend your sport

Please vote in this charity competition; support the troops and defend your sport!

An opportunity to promote the inclusive nature of shooting

One of our supporters, Sport4All have been advertising for inclusive / disability photos for their new website.

“Looking for Inclusive / disability photos for our new up and coming website supporting @sport4_all ! Ask @Jakepryszlak for more details!”

This is a great opportunity to show the non-shooting public, and perhaps remind some of our own ranks just how inclusive the shooting sports are. If you have already, or have the opportunity to take some new photos that might meet their requirements we encourage you to get involved and send them your submissions.

If you have have any queries or comments you can reach out to us via Facebook or e-mail at contact@firearmsuk.org.

Supporting charities & your sport

We would like to draw everyone’s attention to this event where a charity gets the chance to win £1,000. As you will see the League against Cruel sports currently have a high percentage of the votes. We would like to encourage all our followers to vote in favour of the British Legion, not only are members of our team ex forces but this is a charity that is close to all our hearts as many of our family members have served in the forces. We feel that this is also a worthy cause to devote our efforts towards to ensure that the LACS do not get the money which they will use to further harass and lobby against law abiding hunters, pest controllers, and others involved in shooting.

It will be much better for the money to go to an important international charity or to help servicemen/women and their families rather than funding an organisation hell bent on disrupting legal past times and harassing innocent people; including children.

Support worthwhile causes whilst defending your sport!

Supporting local conservation in Wales

It is with mixed emotions that we share some news regarding the Greenland White-Fronted Goose. On the one hand the voluntary moratorium enacted over forty years ago by Welsh wildfowlers has been a resounding example of real world conservation, on the other hand due to habitat loss in their native Greenland the global population of the species is still in decline.

We therefore ask for your help in supporting an independent scientific study dedicated to the geese, which have now launched their own Facebook page. For most of you, all we ask is that you ‘Like’ their Facebook page and spread the word about the conservation efforts on the Dyfi estuary.

If you happen to live in the region or know people who do we would also ask that you report any sightings of the geese either directly to BASC or to the study, which can be done via their Facebook page.

We support the decision of Alun Davies, Minister for Natural Resources who after a public consultation decided to support the conservation efforts provided by the local wildfowlers and extend their voluntary action against targeting the threatened species. It was the wildfowlers who first began the conservation efforts to help save the species and it is important they remain involved and connected to the conservation efforts they have lead and developed over the past four decades.

To identify the Greenland White-Fronted goose look for a white flash on the birds forehead, dark stripes on its belly and its orange legs, the Greenland variety also has orange bills.

Thank you for your continued support and assistance on this matter.

• BASC: Greenland White-Fronted Goose Census Published
• BASC: Greenland White-Fronted Geese Return to Wales

Merry Christmas from Firearms UK

Last minute change to the Scottish General Licence

You may recall that we raised concerns about Scottish General Licences back in August and unfortunately it now seems that our fears have been realized after a last minute change by SNH to their General Licence which are to take effect from 1st January 2014.

Specifically we are concerned that the changes to the licence to include “an enabling paragraph” will be granting civil servants legal powers without evidence of a criminal offence, an approach which is too easily open to abuse.

We are in agreement with BASC regarding the consultation which as with the recent airgun consultation shows that the Scottish Government is more concerned with ticking the consultation box rather than actually going through the process in a manner that would meet even their own documented standards; by allow a minimum of 12 weeks for responses instead of only 6.

We will keep you informed of any developments, for further information please see this update from BASC.

Open Letter to Lorraine Kelly, Scottish Sun Columnist

On Saturday 14/12/13 Lorraine Kelly spoke about Gun Control in the US one year on from the Sandy Hook tragedy. The article was full of the usual emotional based rhetoric with no consideration given to facts or the pro gun side. I tried to contact Lorraine via the E-mail address on her column but it was sent back undelivered. Below is the E-mail.

“Dear Lorraine,

I read with some interest your article regarding Sandy Hook and the US pro gun lobby. A very emotive piece but I wonder if you had given some consideration to the pro gun lobby’s arguments and certain facts and figures.

You try to trivialise the pro gun argument by using the word “bleating”(I wonder if you would use this term to describe people if they were defending their rights to free speech or trial by jury.) However if you would care to look at their side you would see they have very many valid arguments and the facts go some way towards backing it up. Do you know that firearms are used for self defence and prevention of crime daily? Estimates range from hundreds of thousands to millions of uses a year often with no shots fired. Would you rather have hundreds of thousands of innocent law abiding people raped,mugged,assaulted or murdered because of the actions of one madman?

Studies have shown that victims of crime that offer armed resistance are less likely to come to harm than those that offer no resistance, this effect is actually higher with females than men.

More children in the US are killed each year by drowning in garden swimming pools than by firearms. If people were so concerned with saving lives then surely swimming pools would be a higher priority?

You have stated that gun sales in the US has gone up. Well if guns are the problem they surely we should be seeing millions of gun deaths in the US every day?

You mentioned Dunblane and how gun laws were (unfairly) tightened after this tragedy, however you don’t mention that gun crime actually sky rocketed after the handgun ban, you do not mention that there was more than enough justification under laws at the time to remove Hamilton’s firearms, you also don’t mention that Hamilton had actually obtained one of his firearms illegally and for some reason was allowed to put it on ticket. So even if his firearms certificate was revoked he would still appear to have access to an illegal source.

More and more evidence is emerging each day that there is no link between legal gun ownership and violent/gun crime. The evidence would also appear to suggest that the more law abiding gun owners their are then the safer society is as violent crime falls. Restricting the rights and freedoms of the law abiding because of the actions of criminals and madmen does not make society a better place

There was a period in the UK where anyone could purchase a firearm and freely carry it and there did not seem to be many issues.

Are you aware that in China where the Government heavily restricts firearms(A common  trait amongst totalitarian regimes is to disarm the people they wish to control) there have been several attacks in schools where the perpatrator has used a knife to murder and maim dozens of children.

Until people stop blaming guns and actually look at the root causes of violence it will never be stopped.

I realise that your column is an opinion piece but I think you have a duty to your readers to let them know both sides of the argument and make their own minds up. I think once people get past the emotive argument of the anti gun argument they will see that rationally the pro gun lobby are in fact correct.

Regards,
Dave Ewing”

Our Pen of Mass Description Giveaway

The Firearms-UK team have been trying to think of a way to say thank you to everyone for their continued support of our campaigns and efforts over the last year. We believe we have started something positive and hope to build on it in the New Year.

It is with this in mind that we are very excited to announce a Christmas competition in association with Andy at Pens of Mass Description. Andy has very kindly custom made a pen for us to give away. It is made from a .303 cartridge and features the Firearms UK logo. The clip is also in the shape of a Lee Enfield rifle. We recommend a visit to Andy’s page as he has a lot of great pieces on there and can build to your specification. Ideal Christmas presents for the firearms enthusiast.

To enter the competition all you have to do is Like our Facebook status for the giveaway; which is pinned to the top of our Facebook page, Share it and leave a comment. The winner shall be picked at random and will be announced next Friday. (Friday 13th)

Good luck!

View of the Firearms UK logo

Text view

View of the Lee Enfield clip

Our Latest Supporter – 12 Gauge Girl

We had the pleasure of bumping into the 12 Gauge Girl brand recently and was thoroughly impressed by their themed fashion and accessories lines. We felt there could be a gap in the in the market over here for their products, so one of our team made contact, having first fallen in love with some of the products herself, and discussed the possibility of them shipping to the UK. The 12 Gauge Girl team were really helpful and provided us with an estimated delivery price of only $11! (based on Yorkshire); on top of their already very reasonable prices, that is a great price. We can also now confirm that the website shipping options have been updated to include a UK delivery option 🙂

12 Gauge Girl have done us the favor of giving us a shout out on their website; so even if you’re not looking for such items, help us return the favor by suggesting them to people who you might consider interested or share their page on Facebook, they are even on Twitter too, so consider following them. It is our belief at Firearms UK that small things such as ‘liking’ a Facebook page or buying a pair of earnings from a pro-gun organisation are just as important in securing our associated rights; after all, such actions add up over time.

Thanks again to 12 Gauge Girl for your support, it is greatly appreciated.

If you would like to have your organisation’s support acknowledged, please get in touch via our Facebook page or by e-mail, thank you.