Salop and GlenI cannot disagree with your sentiments expressed in reply to my comments How ever I only wish to make the point (which ironically we all seem in agreement on) that the more measured and objective our responses the more credible will be our argumentsI have been accused in the past of being a bloody murderer by one of my wifes colleagues an extrremely well educated lady when I told her my passion was Clay Pigeon Shooting, it took me over two hours to convince her that I hadnt actually killed anything!! The misconceptions are endless and misinformation is fed greedily by the media.My real concern is that we as a community lose the plot and become too emotional then we lose the argument.Common sense does not enter into this debate,as we found out to our cost with Fox Hunting which as with our issues was solely a politico/ emotional stance,what matters is that at every opportunity we put forward a responsible positive viewpoint or opinion backed by irrefutable data and facts.I have no doubt that the woman in the programme was totally biased and had her own agenda, who knows how one would react to losing a son or a daughter under any circumstances. The issue is if we in any way denigrate her beliefs or emotions we are in great danger of painting ourselves into the corner of insensitivity Which does not help our cause at all.It is up to all of us to present a sympathetic and objective response to any or all objectors to our fanatastic sport. I would rather sit down and spend two hours getting someone to understand what Shooting is actually all about than get irritated and bang off a few heartfelt but perhaps inappropriate comments that might come back to haunt me or our sport at a later date.RegardsDavid B.
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EdSolomons
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Solomons for mayor!
Michael Yardley won't win any spelling contests but I've not come across any fieldsport personality yet who can speak as fluidly and articulately in defence of shooting sports. He is well placed to tackle this side of the fence as he's active in more branches of the sport than most people are aware exist. He also happens to be prepared to speak out whenever the opportunity arises, maybe there are others out there who would be prepared to step into the limelight?
Will Hewland
Well-known member
But does he have any P-uuuuuu-llllll with the media? /wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif/wp-content/forum-smileys/sf-laugh.gif CSC3
I'm not concerned about Yardleys ability to spell - and I agree that he is the best that we currently have. However, you just confirm my point - he is ALL we currently have, where as the anti's have any number of emotionally engaged people who will speak out passionately about their position.We have Yardley, and the BASC - and what we need are some more advocates on our side who can connect and land a message. Our profile will rise and improve if we win some medals and get people like Pete Wilson and Richard Faulds some more profile, but where are our Sporting spokespersons?I think as a sport we need to take a decent hard look at ourselves and see how we are percieved from the outside - if we're serious about improving the perception of the sport - then we need to look at a much bigger picture of public image and perception. Our governing body should be helping with this, but we'll also need to find some independant, articulate representatives. I'd imagine there ARE others that would step in the limelight - but at the moment - we can't get consensus inside the camp - what hope have they got of promoting the sport positively. Oh and - 'Solomons for Mayor' - three of the most frightening words ever assembled in a single sentence.
EdSolomons
Well-known member
Oh come on, be "positive"!
shootclay admin said:
In many respects there's a geographical problem. I, like most other shotgunners, live and work in a rural county. Over the years I've chatted with countless colleagues, customers, acquaintances, neighbours and whatnot about the sport. I've no recollection of anybody expressing any comments about banning shotguns or even being bothered about people keeping them at home. Sure there are those who don't approve of shooting live quarry but I've never heard any real negatives about clay shooting; often enough it's the opposite reaction.But things are different in the cities and conurbations where there are vast numbers of people with no understanding of or interest in country life & sports. Lets not forget that the hunting ban came about through a pre-election deal made in the 90s between Tony Blair and a small group of Labour members representing industrial and suburban constituencies. Because of where they live, at least 60% of the people and their political representatives simply couldn't care less whether or not sporting guns are legal because such sports have never been in their lives and never will be and nor would they care a one jot if private ownership of guns was banned.To be honest, I don't think there's any way to present our sport in a positive light to people who have no reason to be interested, especially when so many of those are text book Labour voters to whom country people are either toffs and Hoorays or thicko peasants. IMO the best way to maintain the status quo is to keep Labour out of government because both the Tories and Libs have much greater support in the rural areas and don't want to lose any votes.
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David - You're absolutely right in that we should and need to have a measured, consolidated stance on this.However, my "Oscar" comment was not knee-jerk, in any way. I thought about, and re-wrote, my comments several times, as I absolutely didn't want to inflame. However one looks at it though, and as painful as the trauma may be to her (a point, which I stressed, I was not denigrating) her reaction on getting out of the car was purely for the cameras, in my humble opinion.
I think the glorification of guns doesn't come from the legitimate shotgun and rifle shooter.There are so many parents that allow their children to sit in front of an XBOXPlaystation and shoot people and other things, the more they kill the better weapons they get and then see people getting up and personally it desensitises them to killing and nobody really dies.I sat next to a kid on the tube a couple of years ago playing grand theft auto who couldn't have been 5 but playing an 18 cert game.So many of the current generation and their parents cannot see that it's their actions that contribute to these killings sometimes but nobody seems to want to carry the can for their lack of parental responsibility and take ownership of their culpability it just seems to me that it's never their fault.It's very sad that the lady in the film has lost her son and my condolences go out to her and her family.At the end of the day guns do not kill people, PEOPLE kill people end of, irrespective of the weapon but some people are so blinkered they only believe what they want to believe or what their mate thinks rather than taking a step back and looking at it objectively.Guns have been around for a very long time and murders very rare until the last couple of decades and that I'm sorry is down to the general lack of family values, responsibility and social decline.Jon.
philpot
Well-known member
I think the glorification of guns doesn't come from the legitimate shotgun and rifle shooter.There are so many parents that allow their children to sit in front of an XBOXPlaystation and shoot people and other things, the more they kill the better weapons they get and then see people getting up and personally it desensitises them to killing and nobody really dies.I sat next to a kid on the tube a couple of years ago playing grand theft auto who couldn't have been 5 but playing an 18 cert game.So many of the current generation and their parents cannot see that it's their actions that contribute to these killings sometimes but nobody seems to want to carry the can for their lack of parental responsibility and take ownership of their culpability it just seems to me that it's never their fault.It's very sad that the lady in the film has lost her son and my condolences go out to her and her family.At the end of the day guns do not kill people, PEOPLE kill people end of, irrespective of the weapon but some people are so blinkered they only believe what they want to believe or what their mate thinks rather than taking a step back and looking at it objectively.Guns have been around for a very long time and murders very rare until the last couple of decades and that I'm sorry is down to the general lack of family values, responsibility and social decline.Jon.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I agree with your thoughts totally.Although I did not see the programme, it is a pity the BBC did not incorporate the greater effects of these so called games which I certainly think would have a far greater influience on kids than clay shooting ever would. I was watching the grandson of a friend of mine playing some kind of urban war game the other day with graphic results and he is only 9 years old.Phil
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philpot
Well-known member
Sorry, I have made a cock-up of the previous post. The first section is a quote from Jon Skeet.Phil
