Elephant in the room

[Richard59]

With a new government, with a seemingly free hand to push through whatever it takes, or doesnt take too, should we clay bashers be looking over our shoulders?

 

[MartynB]

I doubt it , with the exception of the HSE review of lead ammunition , which isn’t a political issue as such there shouldn’t be any reason to legislate on firearms .

On an ideological basis I could see problems arising for game shooting .

 

[lh8611]

I believe that the new government have proposed a full cost implementation/recovery of licensing fees. This is with a view to ring fencing additional money raised to help with victims of knife and gun crime. Personally I am quite concerned with them trying to create an equivalence between legal and responsible firearm and shotgun ownership with violent crime. The lack of understanding and knowledge surrounding various shooting sports outside of the community won't be improved by this proposed policy and this will undoubtedly not help with any sort of shooting or field sports. This potentially could be a slippery slope to further legislation and restriction.

As an example (and to my mind at least) it would be like levying additional tax on people who have kitchenware and cutlery because at some point some criminal idiot has used a glass or a kitchen knife as a weapon to commit an illegal act.

 

[lh8611]

To expand on the above, I'm not against a full cost recovery of licensing fees in principle if that money was to be re-invested within the community. For example used to make licencing more efficient or creating more opportunities for younger people to become involved within shooting sports.

 

[Jan Powell]

Clay shooting as a sport is slowly dying. This isn't necessarily as a result of government action or inaction. The sport is caught in a perfect storm that comprises, but is not limited to:

1. Pressure to prevent physical and societal pollution at both a national and local level.
2. Local authority panning restrictions (tied to the above)
3. Ever increasing participation costs
4. An ageing demographic of participants and ground owners
5. An almost complete lack of public awareness
6. An almost complete lack of mainstream media coverage
7. A lack of corporate interest and support (see points 4 and 5)
8. A governing body that only really appeals to the converted and has very little power and influence beyond that.

It's very sad to see and, with a few exceptions, it's evident in many other countries. A lack of interest and influence means the sport is easily picked off by lawmakers with an agenda or those that wish to do us down.

 

[lh8611]

There is a recent audio video on YouTube on the TGS2 channel featuring Jonny Carter and a representative from the NGO discussing the recent election and what this could mean for shooting in the UK. A part of it mentioned about setting up a series of local geographic groups on WhatsApp (in Wales currently I believe). This is so that concerned parties can lobby their respective MP's more effectively as a collective on issues that are important to them regarding shooting. I personally think this could be an effective tool to try and create a more effective voice for us all. I would recommend that anyone who has the time to have a look at it.

 

[Iggy]

I don’t think Labour have ever been a fan of any country or field type sports. I suspect there is a fundamental assumption that most participants are well heeled and don’t fit well with any underlying socialist agenda.

Labour may put some squeeze on us somewhere, anything connected to greater control gun ownership/lead/enviroment will be an easy win/low hanging fruit

As Jan said above, our greatest threat may come from within…very few youngsters coming into the sport and with the increasing participation costs, not only is that unsurprising, but it’s also driving others out of the sport.

I hope I’m wrong.

 

[Mike]

I find clay shooting is getting quite expensive now even at club level, 35p per clay and 27p for a cartridge, 62 pence every time I pull the trigger!
My SGC expires in October 2026 and I'll be 77 years old then so I'll probably not renew. I started shooting in 1981 and have enjoyed shooting either with a pistol, rifle or shotgun

 

[Paul120]

Jan summed it up. There are plenty of Labour MPs who take part in country sports, including Shooting. If there's a threat from politicians, I doubt it's confined to one particular political party.

 

[Richard59]

Clay shooting as a sport is slowly dying. This isn't necessarily as a result of government action or inaction. The sport is caught in a perfect storm that comprises, but is not limited to:

1. Pressure to prevent physical and societal pollution at both a national and local level.
2. Local authority panning restrictions (tied to the above)
3. Ever increasing participation costs
4. An ageing demographic of participants and ground owners
5. An almost complete lack of public awareness
6. An almost complete lack of mainstream media coverage
7. A lack of corporate interest and support (see points 4 and 5)
8. A governing body that only really appeals to the converted and has very little power and influence beyond that.

It's very sad to see and, with a few exceptions, it's evident in many other countries. A lack of interest and influence means the sport is easily picked off by lawmakers with an agenda or those that wish to do us down.

Tend to agree with you, although registered sporting appears healthy its masking the overall decline in all other events, there is a regular closure of non-cpsa grounds which go very much under the/our radar.
Point 3 & 4, due to cost etc have always felt that the "market audience" for take up of clay bashing is in the, er, older generation, spending huge or indeed any noticeable sums in trying to attract the "youth market" is I fear doomed to failure, you need to jump through hoops to get a certificate, access to your own transport and sadly deepish pockets for this game, that combination favours the 30s upwards.