Dunblane handgun ban under review

Away Team

Please God, let this be so!

Jimbo


Dunblane handgun ban under review

THE handgun ban imposed in the wake of the Dunblane massacre is being reviewed by the government to improve Britain’s medal prospects at international pistol-shooting competitions.

New rules which would put hundreds of pistols back in the hands of marksmen are being considered just six years after the tragedy in which 16 schoolchildren and their teacher were murdered by gunman Thomas Hamilton.

The highly controversial move follows a ‘one-off’ relaxation of the ban - which outlaws handguns in Scotland, England and Wales - to allow small-calibre pistol shooters to take part in the recent Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Sports minister Richard Caborn has given the strongest hint yet that the government is prepared to relax the ban. Caborn visited the National Shooting Centre at Bisley in Surrey last month and, in comments that have not previously been reported, told shooting enthusiasts: "Things are not set in tablets of stone and they can always be reversed."

Sources at the Home Office and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport have confirmed that the rules are being reviewed following vociferous lobbying by shooting enthusiasts.

A Home Office insider said: "It remains a sensitive issue, but the shooting groups have put a solid case together and some people in the department are willing to listen, particularly after the Commonwealth Games experiment." But the move has been condemned by families of the children who were murdered at Dunblane.

Mick North, who lost his five-year-old daughter Sophie in the tragedy, said: "Those of us who suffered as a result of Dunblane know that Thomas Hamilton got his guns by learning target shooting at a sports club.

"The sport of target shooting has encouraged some people to go out and use guns for criminal purposes. Any relaxation will inevitably chip away at the entire ban."

North added: "I must admit I found it disconcerting to see people pointing pistols during the Commonwealth Games. It still turns my stomach."



‘It remains sensitive, but shooting groups have put a solid case together’



The plans to relax the ban were also criticised by Pat Greenhill, former provost of Dunblane. She insisted that the shooting lobby should not be allowed to influence the future of gun control.

Greenhill said: "I understand the disappointment of sportsmen who are perfectly responsible and feel they have been penalised for the actions of a very small element.

"But unfortunately, if the wrong person has access to a gun it can be disastrous."

The review follows concerted pressure by the gun lobby. At the moment, people taking part in the five pistol-related sporting events are forced to travel abroad to practise.

Prominent shooting groups have demanded an exemption for sports shooters, who they claim are the most responsible gun-owners, despite massive public support for the blanket ban.

One ‘compromise’ option under investigation is allowing British sports shooters to own and use their pistols in this country, as long as the weapons remain under lock and key in an approved shooting club.

Shooting supporters including Caborn’s predecessor Kate Hoey have been emboldened by recent developments, and insist the Commonwealth Games reinforced the case for special treatment.

They claim the pistol events, held amid high security at Bisley, passed off without a hitch, but that the British medal haul was disappointing.

Pat Johnson, of the British Shooting Sports Council, said blanket restrictions on handguns did not address the real cause of horrific incidents such as Hamilton’s attack.

"Those incidents could have been avoided by better policing and proper co-operation between the shooting clubs and police," he said.

"The ban has caused terrible problems for our sport, but I feel there is now an opening for us to to review the legislation. There is a groundswell of support for that at the moment.

" For the moment our people can compete at international level, but they will find it harder and harder if they can’t practise regularly."

Jenny Page, of the National Small Bore Rifle Association, said the gun lobby could now see "a chink of daylight".

"I have always felt it was a case of softly-softly, catchee monkey. It’s about chipping away at the resistance ," she said. "Anyone who takes their hysterical head off and puts their thinking one on would recognise our case.

"Ideally we would like to go back to the situation pre-1997, when licensed shooters could own and use their guns."

The Firearms (Amendment) Act was rushed into force in 1997. A change in the law would face formidable opposition from MPs in all parties.

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=763&id=874132002

Dvs

Hello Away Team,
I hope this is true,It would open up a lot of possibilities for competitions with Irish and UK shooters, in all pistol disciplines.

The ban was a knee jerk reaction to a tragic crime,
It was understandable that the families of those that died, wanted to blame someone, and the fact that Hamilton killed himself, took away what should have been the main focus for any anger or punishment through the courts.

The only other response,
which was media driven,
was to blame the fact that he had access to hand guns, this was insulting to honest law abiding people invoved in pistol shooting, more or less implying that they were all potential mass killers, this also implied that Hamilton was not responsible for his actions, that the access to handguns was in some way to blame.



Dvs.

Babble

Its too bad that article is over 3 years old
I was about to post it over at canadiangunnutz when I saw the date :mad:
Anything more up to date out there?

Sparks

Well, the Dunblane files have just been declassified (desecretised? What's the verb for lifting the 100-year official secrets act on something?) so that's about the latest in news. The NRA is looking for soliciters to go through the files (the NSRA is having a bit of a hiccup with their administration at the moment). Keep an eye on it, there might be some stuff of interest, given the confluence of the files being reopened and the Olympics needing people to be licenced for pistols freely; though the latter is more likely at the moment to be done through section 5 licencing in the UK which isn't so open.

Clare gunner

[

QUOTE=Sparks]Well, the Dunblane files have just been declassified (desecretised? What's the verb for lifting the 100-year official secrets act

Declassified is the word

). Keep an eye on it, there might be some stuff of interest, given the confluence of the files being reopened

Doubt that there will be very much of help.The files will be proably so censored as to be useless.Plus what will there be that hasnt really come out in the enquiry.Incompetance,revenge and mass blame and punishment of a law abiding majority.
For a more detailed read go to Cybershooters on this topic.