Britons and Guns

[Vladimir]

It appears the limp wristed attitude Britons have against firearms isn't shared by all. Apparently there is a "holiday" camp where marksmen from around the globe come to compete in a respectable competition. The winner is awarded the Queen's Prize, whatever that is.

After seeing

I was kind of curious. What kind of people do you find at these competitions? Is is your stereotypical BNP type of event, aspiring Olympians, or just hot blonde English chicks who could use a little sun?. Does anyone know?


<----click me

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Don’t forget farmers, farmers have guns

[Tribesman]

Apparently there is a "holiday" camp where marksmen from around the globe come to compete in a respectable competition. The winner is awarded the Queen's Prize, whatever that is.

That would be Bisley .
Is is your stereotypical BNP type of event
No it is a national and international sporting center .
The major difference between the NRA in America and the NRA and NRC in the UK is that in America if you get some muppet making a speech about prying weapons from his cold dead hand some members buy the bumper sticker , in the UK they would revoke his membership and ask serious questions about his eligibilty to possess firearms due to a clear mental imbalance .
I have only been shooting there once , but my wife used to shoot there a lot for England and Great Britain and two of her cousins still compete there with the S.African team (though they used to be in the Zimbabwe team)

[InsaneApache]

Ahh yes Bisley. The old school of musketry.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Shooting is very popular in Britain, most rural children have at least fired a .22 air rifle. I used to be quite a good shot myself, unfortunately my eyesight continues to deteriate and my glasses can't keep up so without a scope I'm shooting blind, and I haven't actually shot at all in a year.

In Britain rifles and shotguns are "clean" weapons that it is perfectly acceptable to own. Handguns, however, are "dirty" and the ban, which was badly thought out, hasn't helped.

I think the big difference in the UK is that most of us don't buy our weapons with the intention of ever using them on a person.

[Strike For The South]

Oh you sir are missing out.

[Watchman]

Would you believe Finland has per capita the third most firearms in the world (#1 and #2 being unsurprisingly the US and something like Oman or some other oil-sheik state)...?

[Strike For The South]

Do you enjoy killing innocents with your firearms as much as we do?

[Watchman]

Do deer and other game animals count ? Ours are 99% hunting arms...

The only people who carry handguns around are the cops.

[macsen rufus]

Do you enjoy killing innocents with your firearms as much as we do?

Go ask a policeman...

[Red Peasant]

Oh you sir are missing out.

We could always import some genuine 'white trash' from the American South for target practice?

[Watchman]

Don't you have chavs already ?

[macsen rufus]

Don't you have chavs already ?

That would be unsporting....

... the proper weapon is the crossbow

[Banquo's Ghost]

That would be unsporting....

... the proper weapon is the crossbow

I would have thought anything more accurate than a trebuchet was unsporting. It's not like they move very fast, even at the best of times, and let's face it, Burberry hardly counts as disruptive camouflage.

[Watchman]

I thought Teh Tradishunal English Weapon was the longbow...?

Or was that reserved for use against pesky Welsh ?

[Banquo's Ghost]

I thought Teh Tradishunal English Weapon was the longbow...?

Or was that reserved for use against pesky Welsh ?

As you say. Although IIRC, the option is only open to the men of Chepstow, who may pincushion said Welsh persons within their precincts after dark.

[Strike For The South]

We could always import some genuine 'white trash' from the American South for target practice?

If a get a free trip to England Ill be target practice. Hell I even have the snagletooth

[Vladimir]

I thought Teh Tradishunal English Weapon was the longbow...?

Or was that reserved for use against pesky Welsh ?

No no no. Longbows are used by the Welsh against the French.

[InsaneApache]

It appears the limp wristed attitude Britons have against firearms isn't shared by all. Apparently there is a "holiday" camp where marksmen from around the globe come to compete in a respectable competition. The winner is awarded the Queen's Prize, whatever that is.

After seeing

I was kind of curious. What kind of people do you find at these competitions? Is is your stereotypical BNP type of event, aspiring Olympians, or just hot blonde English chicks who could use a little sun?. Does anyone know?


<----click me

Limp wristed?

Perhaps we just don't want there to be 29, 000 deaths a year from firearms. BTW does anyone have any information when the UK population was dis-armed?

[Vladimir]

Edit: Never mind, sorry for being an ass.

[InsaneApache]

Well 29, 000 is a lot of old ladies. Which ban are you talking about? There are several laws restricting the weapons allowed. The handgun ban, if that is what you allude to, has been a joke. All it's done is push handgun ownership underground.

[macsen rufus]

BTW does anyone have any information when the UK population was dis-armed?

Can't remember the details without running to my bookshelf, but I have a feeling Henry VIII dropped the requirements for his male subjects to keep a bow at home due to rebellious peasantry.... apparently the threat of armed citizens outweighed the need for a large reserve force of bowmen at the time.

[Watchman]

That didn't keep the country from crawling with assorted blackpowder firearms though, AFAIK. One suspects the longbow having become essentially obsolete as a military weapon having rather more to do with that one.

[Pannonian]

Limp wristed?

Perhaps we just don't want there to be 29, 000 deaths a year from firearms. BTW does anyone have any information when the UK population was dis-armed?

Automatics and semi-automatics were banned after Hungerford, while handguns went the same way after Dunblane.

[Pannonian]

Well 29, 000 is a lot of old ladies. Which ban are you talking about? There are several laws restricting the weapons allowed. The handgun ban, if that is what you allude to, has been a joke. All it's done is push handgun ownership underground.

It means that criminals can still easily get handguns on the black market, but law abiders will have to get a .303 through the eye of a needle to do so. This may seem ridiculous, but criminal gangs tend to use those weapons on each other, and most of us don't care about those casualties except when bystanders are caught up. When these weapons are used in robberies, they are rarely fired, since most people follow police advice of staying docile and calling CrimeWatch afterward. What's more, criminal gangs far prefer non-violent crime like fraud, forgery and so on, which is far more profitable and has far lower penalties even when caught.

The real danger is from legit users who are undetected psychos. Autos and semi-autos are obvious enough, but handguns are easily concealable, hence also dangerous (the alarm would have been rung the moment Thomas Hamilton went through Dunblane Primary School gates with a rifle or similar long gun). By restricting access to firearms, undetected psychos can do less damage before they are detected and subdued. IIRC another primary school teacher received a George Cross when she shielded her charges from a maniac with a katana. She was seriously wounded, but no-one else was hurt. Imagine the damage if he had used guns instead.

[Duke Malcolm]

Automatics and semi-automatics were banned after Hungerford, while handguns went the same way after Dunblane.

They seem to be quite snappy, and (the latter, anyway) ill-thought out. The Scottish Executive is trying to get the Home Office to make an air gun/bb gun licence in Scotland after a three year-old was accidentally shot (might have died, I cannot remember) with one. Even if the guns were not banned, I doubt the murder rate would be higher, perhaps a few more at best.

[Red Peasant]

Can't remember the details without running to my bookshelf, but I have a feeling Henry VIII dropped the requirements for his male subjects to keep a bow at home due to rebellious peasantry.... apparently the threat of armed citizens outweighed the need for a large reserve force of bowmen at the time.

A law of Henry's requiring all able-bodied Englishmen to practice their archery on a Sunday is still active. I promised him that I'd turn up at the archery range next Sunday! He had to pass laws to compel people to practise archery, not to disarm them.

[Red Peasant]

It is obviously far more 'limp-wristed' to shoot somebody or something from a distance, especially animals who can never shoot back.

Put 'em up you cowards!

[Pannonian]

They seem to be quite snappy, and (the latter, anyway) ill-thought out. The Scottish Executive is trying to get the Home Office to make an air gun/bb gun licence in Scotland after a three year-old was accidentally shot (might have died, I cannot remember) with one. Even if the guns were not banned, I doubt the murder rate would be higher, perhaps a few more at best.

You can't deny though that anti-gun laws are popular among the general electorate, and as long as they continue to get votes, they won't be repealed, and will be expanded. Shotguns are the hunting weapons of the respectable farmers and aristocracy, and so are immune from this stigma, but everything else is pleb and prole and offends Daily Mail readers. Perhaps Shadeswolf can elaborate on this trend.

[Pannonian]

It is obviously far more 'limp-wristed' to shoot somebody or something from a distance, especially animals who can never shoot back.

Put 'em up you cowards!

True men don't hunt deer with rifles, they stalk them in the grass, wrestle them to the ground with their bare hands before tearing out their throats with their teeth.