(UK)Olympic hope that handgun ban may be relaxed

[Geezah]

MINISTERS are in sensitive high level talks aimed at convincing the Home Secretary to lift part of the pistol ban that has kept Britain's Olympic shooting team in exile for the past eight years.

Legislation passed by successive Tory and Labour governments in the wake of the Dunblane massacre in 1996 outlawed handguns in Britain – even for licensed sport.

The British pistol shooting team was forced out of the country and had to relocate to Switzerland, a move that gun campaigners say has led to a dramatic deterioration in the quality of British competition shooting.
But Sports Minister Richard Caborn has told the Yorkshire Post that the victory in securing the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the Government's determination to win as many gold medals as possible has encouraged them to look into the possibility of giving the use of pistols for sport a special exemption.

A "section five" exemption – existing uses include arming police marksmen or personal protection officers – would allow the use of pistols for specific purposes, without having to relax the rules on other handguns.
Speaking at the Labour's conference in Brighton, Mr Caborn was optimistic last night of making progress with Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who would have to give the discretionary exemption for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to begin planning the team's return.

"We don't think it's going to be a problem," he said. "We've just got to manage it properly to ensure they are only used in controlled conditions and to reassure the public."
British Association for Shooting and Conservation spokesman Christopher Graffium praised the Government last night for discussing the issue with them, saying he was "hopeful" a breakthrough could be made.
"The issue is producing some of the best shots in the world so we can go on and look at how Britain can win as many gold medals as possible," he said.

The increase of illegal firearm use had seen responsible shooters tarred with the same brush, Mr Graffium said, despite gun crimes doubling in the years since handguns were banned.
"The tradition in Britain is that when you legislate you unintentionally hit the legitimate shooter first," he said.
"But we're working with the Government to do what we can to improve the situation."

Link (http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1202077)

[a_very_ex_STAB]

MINISTERS are in sensitive high level talks aimed at convincing the Home Secretary to lift part of the pistol ban that has kept Britain's Olympic shooting team in exile for the past eight years.

Legislation passed by successive Tory and Labour governments in the wake of the Dunblane massacre in 1996 outlawed handguns in Britain – even for licensed sport.

The British pistol shooting team was forced out of the country and had to relocate to Switzerland, a move that gun campaigners say has led to a dramatic deterioration in the quality of British competition shooting.
But Sports Minister Richard Caborn has told the Yorkshire Post that the victory in securing the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the Government's determination to win as many gold medals as possible has encouraged them to look into the possibility of giving the use of pistols for sport a special exemption.

A "section five" exemption – existing uses include arming police marksmen or personal protection officers – would allow the use of pistols for specific purposes, without having to relax the rules on other handguns.
Speaking at the Labour's conference in Brighton, Mr Caborn was optimistic last night of making progress with Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who would have to give the discretionary exemption for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to begin planning the team's return.

"We don't think it's going to be a problem," he said. "We've just got to manage it properly to ensure they are only used in controlled conditions and to reassure the public."
British Association for Shooting and Conservation spokesman Christopher Graffium praised the Government last night for discussing the issue with them, saying he was "hopeful" a breakthrough could be made.
"The issue is producing some of the best shots in the world so we can go on and look at how Britain can win as many gold medals as possible," he said.

The increase of illegal firearm use had seen responsible shooters tarred with the same brush, Mr Graffium said, despite gun crimes doubling in the years since handguns were banned.
"The tradition in Britain is that when you legislate you unintentionally hit the legitimate shooter first," he said.
"But we're working with the Government to do what we can to improve the situation."

Link (http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1202077)

Well I hope it's true but they managed to stage the Commonwealth Games in the UK, which included shooting events, without making any changes to the law.

[Geezah]

I'm suprised that you didn't pick up on this little titbit?

"We've just got to manage it properly to ensure they are only used in controlled conditions and to reassure the public."

At no point were legal held firearms a threat to the public(atleast not the way they have potrayed it), they painted all legal handguns owners as spat shooters.


16. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the 1997 Acts in removing pistols from circulation, then, it would be necessary to know how many of those 162,353 surrendered pistols were at risk of being used for criminal purposes. The number of such pistols can be shown to have been rather small: 31 in any one year; but so limited is the available data that this estimate is little more than an indication of the appropriate order of magnitude

Firearms control legislation in the UK and public safety (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhaff/95/95ap69.htm)


4. GUNS AND CRIME IN ENGLAND AND WALES(a) The Use of Firearms in Crime

4.1 It is often argued, in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, that tighter controls on firearms would increase public safety. After the horror of Dunblane, public and media pressure on the government to take action to prevent a recurrence was intense and the subsequent legislative changes appeared to be seen by some as a panacea to the problems of certain crimes, particularly violent crimes.However, as previously mentioned, available evidence shows that violent crimes such as robbery and homicide are rarely committed with legally-held guns. The great majority of violent crime involving the use of a firearm is committed with an illegal weapon and consequently further bans on guns are unlikely to bring about reductions in gun-related crime (Hansson and Broadhurst, 1999).

Scroll down page to #4 (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/ukparl_hl?DB=ukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=gun+cultur+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhaff/95/95ap28.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match)

[a_very_ex_STAB]

I'm suprised that you didn't pick up on this little titbit?

"We've just got to manage it properly to ensure they are only used in controlled conditions and to reassure the public."

At no point were legal held firearms a threat to the public(atleast not the way they have potrayed it), they painted all legal handguns owners as spat shooters.


16. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the 1997 Acts in removing pistols from circulation, then, it would be necessary to know how many of those 162,353 surrendered pistols were at risk of being used for criminal purposes. The number of such pistols can be shown to have been rather small: 31 in any one year; but so limited is the available data that this estimate is little more than an indication of the appropriate order of magnitude

Firearms control legislation in the UK and public safety (http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhaff/95/95ap69.htm)


4. GUNS AND CRIME IN ENGLAND AND WALES(a) The Use of Firearms in Crime

4.1 It is often argued, in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, that tighter controls on firearms would increase public safety. After the horror of Dunblane, public and media pressure on the government to take action to prevent a recurrence was intense and the subsequent legislative changes appeared to be seen by some as a panacea to the problems of certain crimes, particularly violent crimes.However, as previously mentioned, available evidence shows that violent crimes such as robbery and homicide are rarely committed with legally-held guns. The great majority of violent crime involving the use of a firearm is committed with an illegal weapon and consequently further bans on guns are unlikely to bring about reductions in gun-related crime (Hansson and Broadhurst, 1999).

Scroll down page to #4 (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/ukparl_hl?DB=ukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=gun+cultur+&COLOUR=Red&STYLE=s&URL=/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmhaff/95/95ap28.htm#muscat_highlighter_first_match)

Well I hope the 'climate' changes and it won't be too long before I can buy my first Colt .45! I haven't fired a pistol for 15 years :-)

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

We are seeing a change in the attitude of senior police and the HO, free pistol is back in and it looks like they might permit stalkers to carry short barrelled full bore single shots for humane killing. Give it a few years and rapid fire .22 will be back.