A couple of months ago, our press officer posted a press indicating the plight that the folks with real firearms are facing.
Since that time however, there have been a few amendments by a few MPs that have been placed in the queue that have placed a spanner in the works (well, even more so than when the bill was first introduced)
Some of these delightful changes include a ban on anyone under 18s from the mere possession of air rifles/pistols on private land outwith a club, a ban on under 21s purchasing knives, and other interesting amendments that are causing concern to myself and other organisations, from extremely large to small.
At the time when this previous post went out I had asked our wonderful press officer to suggest that only people who had first hand knowledge of the affected firearms (muzzle KE greater than 13.6kJ, semi-automatics) contact the relevant committee but as project creep has taken a hold of this opportunistic bill, I’d like to extend my invitation to contact the House of Common Public Bill Committee to the following:
– Parents of children who together “plink” on private property using air rifles and pistols (specifically not airsoft replicas)
– People under the age of twenty one who do not live with people over the age of twenty one (which, one would presume would be literally every single non-mature university student)
If these aren’t you (and you feel you would be negatively affected by the changes in this bill), then I’d still like to invite you to write to your MP – despite what people say, your voice does count.
There are two things that I’d to note – these amendments will not affect Airsoft, but, they will affect people who play Airsoft. I’m sure there are many of our members out there who also own air rifles and shoot with their children in a back garden safely.
Secondly, there are many amendments that will not make its way into a further draft of the bill – like for example, this interesting bit of proposed knife legislation (hopefully) but it’s your duty to let your MP know that you do not agree with these proposed changes to legislation.
Remember, they work for you.
~ David
