Juniper Green was pleased to receive a visit from our local Conservative MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, David McLetchie. Mr McLetchie was invited by the club to see that there is a positive side to air guns, despite what the press relate and to discuss the impact that any Scottish ‘go-it-alone’ firearms legislation following the Calman report might have on our sport. It was pointed out that with separate legislation in Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland cross border travel for competition or leisure shooting would become more difficult. Northern Ireland already certifies air guns and during a championship held there, temporary licences for air gunners travelling to compete had to be provided and that this impacted on the numbers that competed. Mr McLetchie was surprised to hear that whilst air guns require a certificate in NI, hand guns are not banned in as they are in the rest of the UK.
It was felt that any licensing of air guns would cause a further increase in the number of rim fire and other fire arms as happened when Brocock owners were forced to apply for fire arms certificates. One of our number affected by this said that he added a shot gun and .22 rim fire rifle to his application at the time. Registration would also only affect law abiding air gunners. A sad example of this is the proliferation in use of illegal hand guns by criminals over the years since the Dunblane tragedy and subsequent ban on hand gun possession. Legitimate pistol shooters lost their sport for what is now seen as a knee-jerk response by government to a tragic incident.
Both main disciplines of the sport (FT and HFT) were explained and that there are probably upwards of 500 shooters in FT and HFT air gun clubs. It was also said that air guns were in use widely and effectively for control of vermin around farms, golf courses and other establishments, that there are many millions of air guns in private use on a daily basis that cause no problem whatsoever and that the public’s perception is driven by a handful of tragic accidents. Air guns were described as particularly effective for vermin control as their lower power and shorter range renders them safer than rim fire or full bore rifles. Moderated PCP rifles also have the advantage of being almost silent when used reducing disturbance to people and animals.
In general, it was thought that more people are injured by eating biscuits than are hurt by air guns.
During the evening we demonstrated the different types of air guns available from Field target rifles, hunting PCPs, spring guns and a variety of pistols explaining that they were now only available new through registered fire arms dealers. Air guns are no longer available via mail order.
We discussed the current legislation on firearms pertaining to air guns and that we, as a membership, felt that this was more than sufficient and that further restrictions on air guns were unnecessary. We expressed a desire to see the current legislation enforced. There was some uncertainty as to whether the penalty for a fire arms offence was a mandatory or maximum 5 year sentence [it’s mandatory]. Mr Mcletchie said that he would ask questions about incidents regarding air guns to see what size of a problem it was in Scotland.
The evening ended with a vote of thanks to Mr McLetchie for his visit.
