Posted on 05/26/2007 11:09:40 AM PDT by 68skylark
The first-ever National Shooting Week was launched on Monday 21st May at the National Shooting Centre at Bisley, known as ‘the home of shooting’.
From Saturday May 26th to Sunday June 3rd, thousands of people across the UK will try one of the most exciting Olympic sports during National Shooting Week.
Shooting schools and clubs are putting on more than 200 open days across the country so the public can try shooting for the first time.
A group of the UK’s finest Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth and international medal winning shooters were on hand at Bisley to lend their support to National Shooting Week. National Shooting Week is a Government-backed initiative created by the Countryside Alliance and organised by the British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC), the umbrella body for shooting sports.
Speaking at the launch, the Government spokesperson for shooting sports, Martin Salter MP said: “I fully support the ideals behind National Shooting Week, particularly with the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in mind. The event will also demystify certain imagery surrounding guns and give members of the public a great day out in a safe environment.”
Also at the launch was Shadow Sports Minister Hugh Robertson MP who said: “Shooting is one of the most inclusive Olympic and Paralympic sports, where gender, age and disability are no barriers to success. I applaud National Shooting Week as an excellent idea to promote a sport in which Britain excels. We must give our best shooters every chance to shine in the future.”
Lord Shrewsbury, chairman of event organiser, the British Shooting Sports Council, said: “At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, shooting accounted for 23 out of the UK’s 116 medals, so the sport will have a huge role to play in the 2012 Olympic Games. National Shooting Week is all about people experiencing a popular sport that Britain is actually good at!”
Olympic gold medallist Richard Faulds, who gave a shooting demonstration, said: “I’m delighted to support National Shooting Week because initiatives to raise awareness of shooting sports in the public eye on a grand scale can only be a good thing.”
Sports Minister Richard Caborn did not attend the Bisley launch, but said: “I would like to take this opportunity to wish all those involved in the event every success. Offering people a chance to try Olympic and Paralympic sports may inspire future 2012 medallists. Britain has a strong track record of Olympic shooting success.”
Click here for a shooting factsheet, or click here to find your nearest event.
Countryside Alliance chairman Kate Hoey MP with (l-r) air rifle champion Nathan Sutherland, top pistol shot Samantha Buckley, pentathlete Montana Jones and the UK's record Commonwealth Games medal holder Mick Gault. Front, top air rifle shot Nathan Milgate.
I spelled “bang” incorrectly in this headline. Sorry! Could I ask for a correction? I appreciate it.
I went to the UK link but the web page will not reveal where any of the events will take place.
Since I am American I do not know a postal code for UK and there is no way to do this.
‘Since I am American I do not know a postal code for UK and there is no way to do this.’
Hi George
Try B1 2JP if you need a uk postcode.
Actually, it might be nice to have a band at National Shooting Week. I've never tried shooting with music, but it might give the range a nice festive atmosphere.
Maybe that’s changing.
I don’t know but I imagine some one had to work very hard to put the together - They just have to get permits to buy the guns now and they are in business.
This isn’t about gun rights, it’s about sport.
We have gun rights, but we don’t have handgun rights. It’s pointless comparing US attitudes to gun rights with UK ones. No party that espouses handgun ownership will ever get elected as 90% of people don’t want handguns in general circulation here.
I know all the US arguments for guns in the US, but they don’t fly here because we have very low levels of gun violence and an unarmed police force which very few are willing to swap handgun for an armed police force. Different countries, different attitudes, pointless to compare the two.
Must dash - I’m off shooting tomorrow. . . . . :)
Correct me if you think I have been fed false information.
‘I don’t know but I imagine some one had to work very hard to put the together - They just have to get permits to buy the guns now and they are in business.’
No permits needed. The gun owners are the ones who are licensed - thousands of people shoot every weekend. I live in a rural area and most of my friends own at least one shotgun. I have two and a rifle. None of my friends want to own handguns as they are not sporting so there is no political pressure to un-ban handguns. Pointless to compare the UK and US on guns - your system works for you and ours works for us. Vive la difference!
Rights are legally beyond the authority of the state. You are only allowed the rifles and shotguns the state allows you have. So you have no gun "rights" at all, only gun "privileges ", which you exercise only with the proper permits.
agree - oh and have fun shooting tomorrow. :)
‘Correct me if you think I have been fed false information.’
You have been fed false information. Our police are not armed, with the exception of ARUs which are armed response units, one per area called in when a gun crime is reported and airport patrols. 95% of UK police carry no guns.
As for our deaths and injuries due to handguns being way up the figures for the whole of the UK last year were 50 murders. Chicago alone had ten times that. 50 gun murders out of 60m people is incredibly small.
Perhaps you’d be good enough to share with me the figures you checked?
‘Rights are legally beyond the authority of the state. You are only allowed the rifles and shotguns the state allows you have. So you have no gun “rights” at all, only gun “privileges “, which you exercise only with the proper permits.’
The same applies to you. Different parts of the US have different gun laws. Many areas restrict the type of guns you may own just as ours do here, thus you no more have gun rights than we do, you just have wider priveledges than we do.
‘agree - oh and have fun shooting tomorrow. :)’
I will - it’s just a few friends with a few land rovers on an upland farm, but we enjoy ourselves! :)
‘I hope you don’t feel like freepers in general are being critical of English firearm laws or traditions. The approach to firearms there is so different from the U.S. that lots of us are amazed at the differences. But we recognize that the people there can make whatever rules are comfortable.’
Thank you for that 68skylark.
I fully support the US campaign against gun control because that is what is right for America, but what we have is right for us. We have a very different culture and attitude towards handguns and it works for us, but that is not criticism of the US system. I suspect that most Brits find it just as shocking that an 18 year old soldier on leave from Iraq can’t buy a beer as you guys do that we can’t buy a handgun, but we each choose the way that suits our own country. One set of rules does not fit every country.
What sorts of long arms are you allowed and under what limitations? My understanding of British rules limiting possession of arms is that broadly speaking they were/are usually what the elites were comfortable with.
That is to say restrictions were/are based historically (originally) on one’s class, religious affiliation and loyalty to the dynasty in power, ie., no guns for the Catholics, the Irish, adherents of the Stuarts or the working classes.
In the modern era it seems the rules are for the convenience of the bureaucrats that run the state.
Not that that sort of arrangement is unusual in any state!
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