Firearms/reaction of politicians in the aftermath of (undeniably horrible) events

[ammo]

Most sensible post of the thread.

Sorry im keeping out of this thread as i thought it was supposed to be sensible

[happybonzo]

Honest, and law-abiding, Phil, who lives in a semi-detached house in the suburbs, just doesn't need a handgun or rifle.

I was always under the impression that I had a house in Suffolk, a Farm in North Devon and some Forestry in La Belle France

Shotguns, for pest control, I can understand

Not too sure on this one. Foxes can be controlled by use of a Shotgun but for humane dispatch I prefer to rely on my .243 or .22WMR
Having tried the so-called humane trapping devices for rat control I've gone back to shooting the things. For that I use a .25 air rifle running at 35ft/lbs on FAC.. I resent wasting the cost of a cartridge on something I'm not going to eat.

Unfortunately, I am not allowed to use the air rifle in France - nothing over 6ft/lbs so I have to rely on an ancient BSA .22 that can still handle .22 short or Flaubert rounds.

Likewise Squirrels. I gave up eating them after I saw what they did to Cousin Clettus and Betty-Lou

btw, does "Pest Control" include Tourists?

Phil t/a happybonzo

[FishyFolk]

Still not entirely convinced. So what if it's on the Olympic programme? That doesn't carve anything in stone.
Sorry to take it to extremes, but the Romans had gladiatorial fights to the death. We don't see that as a reason to continue it. My point being, tastes and attitudes change. I don't see target shooting as legitimate. That said, personally, I also find boxing abhorrent and it still saddens and dumbfounds me that we see two people, in a ring, trying to beat each other to unconciousness, as entertainment.

So I couldn't care less if target shooting, or synchronised swimming, or whatever is in the Olympics - that's no excuse.

Okay, then discussing this with you is to be blunt. A waste of time.

[Fraxinus]

Discussing firearms on any forum which is not predominantly a firearms forum is going to be a waste of time.
Feelings always end up running hot.
Rob.

[midas]

Well!the cats amongst the pigeons!Quick shoot it"lol
You lads seem to have covered a lot of the points in the "anti posts".But.
Target shooting like any other is a Skill,and won more gold medals than lots of other sports.
The inference that legal law abiding FAC holders "sell there guns on the "BLACK MARKET"Would be almost an impossibility in the UK.and the criminals/drugdealers,would be unlikly to want them anyway.Perfering to aquire large capacity pistols,AK74,or 47.Mac10's,even Uzi's,more easilly on the European "black market".(money not been a problem for them)
Sad that our Olympians have to go to europe to practice.or even the Channel Isles,Isle of man,Even Northern Ireland.were one could even get a pistol for personal pertection.
The French/Europe have a much more sensible approach to firearms ownership.When I visit Croatia,to hunt wild boar,Its a whole different approach.with pomp n ceromany honouring the fallen game.Its a "Way off life".with much social inter action.
Much as Fox hunting was in the UK.Before the Ban.
Shooting also puts Millions of pounds into the econemany,provides lots of employment ,Often in more rural areas.I think if shooting was banned in scotland.It would close down! As for FREEDOM,if it had not been for men who fought n gave their lives,to protect the "UK",you wouldnt have any freedom.Too many computor games ,brain washing kids,sat all day Killing people ,Stealing cars,etc on the one eyed monster.As a lad I could get on a tram with a SMLE,over my shoulder,(in cadet uniform)n the only reaction would be,"Look after your rifle lad n it'll look after you!Carried one for 5 years etc,never let me down"Try it now even with n airgun and an Armed Responce Team would be on its way.(good practice for the lads.)a lot of them I trained in Practical Shotgun)

[Blood]

Interesting thread. Seemed to have become heated...
My personal view is similar to some here, we should n we shouldn't. I would like to, but I feel that it would be too much responsibility in a home, a family home. Besides tbh where could I actually use it round here anyways to justify the costs.
Air rifles frankly I find boring after serving in the forces and playing with real toys. They too are far over priced simply because they aren't massively regulated.
Thank you for an interesting read.

[rik_uk3]

I lost my pistols in the knee jerk ban. You can still shoot legally a .50 cal sniper rifle or less in the UK. How big does your gun need to be? You can still own some pistols in the UK.

[headshot]

i had a glok up to a couple of years ago that i can legally keep in my gun cabinet,i took it of my ticket aswell as a couple of rifles and now just stick with the rimfire as its all i need but i could put it back on if i wanted,they can only be used up at the pistol range which is an old quarry up on the mountain rd

[OakAshandThorn]

Meanwhile, in Connecticut, the families of those who were (supposedly) killed in Sandy Hook are lobbying for extremely strict gun control laws in our own state and all across the US. Oh, how the media loves to play the propaganda/yellow journalism game - apparently, everything is an assault weapon (these people couldn't pick out a revolver from a mess of M-1911s), no one should be allowed to own any firearm because the police will always be there (in no less than 10 minutes)...
And while we're at it, we might as well ban all images of firearms, including tatoos, and children should be suspended if they point 'finger-guns' at each other in school (I kid you not, it has happened here), since they obviously promote guns and they're being brainwashed by the right-wing extremely radical NRA. *sarcasm*
Guess it's time to pack up and leave States, since it will be no longer legal to fight-fire-with-fire and defend yourself.

I hope I haven't added more fuel to the bonfire here...just my half-cent's worth

[jbrown14]

Horrible things going on in Connecticut, OakAshandThorn. Seem to be a little worse than in my home state, New York.

I just shake my head every time I hear about another kid suspended from school for a "gun" related offense. He chewed his sandwich into the shape of a gun? Suspended. Pointed a pencil at a classmate? Suspended. Played 'cops-n-robbers' at recess? Expel the whole bunch.

Meanwhile, I'm blessed to have my kids at a private school where they had a Thanksgiving Day play including the pilgrims, natives and turkeys. What do you think half of the boys were carrying who played pilgrims? They each had their plastic play shotguns or those wooden cap muskets *gasp* in school! There was even a kid walking around at their science/social studies fair wearing a couple of cap gun six-shooters on his hips while dressed as a cowboy. I love it!

I live in suburban upstate New York State (NOT "The City") in an area where violent crime is not a major problem, but where break-ins and home invasions can happen occasionally. I have a 12 gauge pump shotgun set up for home defense always loaded and ready to grab. However, I have 5 year old twins also, so there's a trigger lock on that shotgun and the key is immediately accessible to me or my wife should the need arise. Yeah that will slow my response down by a few seconds should the need ever arise, but it's the responsible thing to do in my case.

It greatly irks me to hear people using the phrase "you don't NEED..." when referring to what type of firearm I should or should not have access to. Who are you to decide what is right for me to use in defense of my life or my family's life? If a criminal accosts me at my house with a handgun and a STANDARD capacity magazine (caps for emphasis because too often standard capacities are referred to as "large capacity") he could have any where from 10 to 15 or more rounds available to him in one magazine. My governor wants me to keep only 7 rounds in my magazine because that's all I "need" according to him.

"Oh, excuse me mister criminal, I already shot your two buddies who came in through the back door, but it took two shots to take out one guy, I missed with three shots because my hands were shaking so badly from the adrenaline rush and the next three only wounded the second guy, could you hang on a second while I reload? Yeah, the police will be here in about 7-15 minutes depending on traffic, just sit tight."

I could go on more, but I'm sure I've already started a couple of boilers pumping, so let's see where this gets me.

All the best,

Josh