{"id":737,"date":"2017-10-11T18:43:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T17:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/?p=737"},"modified":"2017-10-12T01:43:49","modified_gmt":"2017-10-12T00:43:49","slug":"the-tories-are-not-our-friends-and-other-tales-of-woe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/?p=737","title":{"rendered":"The Tories are not our friends&#8230; and other tales of woe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">11\u00a0October, 2017<\/span> &#8211; Over the years the Conservative Party has always pretended to be friendly towards shooters, and in some cases they clearly were &#8211; David Cameron is a shooter and did quite a lot for us, such as holding back fee increases.\u00a0 However the Tories are possessed of a police state mentality which generally overcomes any libertarian feelings.\u00a0 Thatcher was in power when self-loading rifles were banned in 1988; John Major was in power when handguns were banned in 1997 and there are many other examples.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The latest example is a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/home-secretary-to-consult-on-new-laws-on-offensive-weapons\">consultation paper<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">introduced by the Home Office.\u00a0 (This is in addition to a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/home-secretary-takes-further-action-to-tackle-knife-crime\">previously announced consultation<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0on banning offensive weapons.)\u00a0 Almost as a casual throwaway line, the press release mentions the Government wants to ban .50 calibre rifles and &#8220;rapid fire rifles&#8221;.\u00a0 I assume the latter refers to the various contraptions that have come about in the last few years that are essentially semi-semi-automatic rifles, that usually feature some sort of double-sear\/double-trigger arrangement that requires you to press down on a lever between shots or pull the trigger twice to fire the rifle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Government<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/250931\/hc501.pdf\">originally proposed banning .50 calibre rifles<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> way back in 2002 after the 9\/11 attacks, amid fears terrorists might start shooting down airliners with them.\u00a0 This plan never materialised as the Govt. later seemed to be satisfied that this wasn&#8217;t as big of a problem as originally feared as armour-piercing ammunition was prohibited in 1992.\u00a0 Since 2002, the use of .50 calibre rifles (we&#8217;re talking about .50 BMG and 12.7x108mm here) in long-range\u00a0target shooting has declined due to newer more ballistically efficient ammunition such as .408 CheyTac and .416 Barrett being developed.\u00a0 Even the British Army now favours the .338 Lapua Magnum for the designated marksman role.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Essentially the Govt. wants to ban something never used in a crime in GB (they&#8217;ve shown up in Northern Ireland), that few people legally own (as there are very few approved ranges)\u00a0and which is essentially obsolete anyway.\u00a0 Never underestimate the paranoia of the police.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So-called &#8220;rapid fire rifles&#8221; are by definition not rapid-fire, as a semi-automatic AR-15 for example is already a neutered version of the fully-automatic version and a double-sear\/lever-release version fires even more slowly.\u00a0 In the hands of a skilled marksman they can be fired somewhat quickly but the same is true of a century-old .303 SMLE.\u00a0 Anyone who has used a bolt-action\/straight-pull version of an AR-15 knows how slow\u00a0they can be to operate so it&#8217;s hardly surprising people came up with a way to fire them a bit more quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X9fhEmufgbw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rFYZHLuxXZ8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Policing And Crime Act<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You could be forgiven for thinking the Tories aren&#8217;t all that bad because<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/?p=686\">as previously mentioned<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">the<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2017\/3\/part\/6\/enacted\">Policing and Crime Act 2017<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">contained quite a lot of improvements to the Firearms Act, unfortunately at the very last moment at report stage in the Commons,\u00a0the Home Office inserted a new section into the Bill\u00a0that became<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2017\/3\/section\/128\/enacted\">section 128 of the Act<\/a>.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">Being inserted without debate, it is very badly worded.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This has the effect of requiring all deactivated firearms to be deactivated to the current Home Office specification in order to be sold or gifted, in Great Britain.\u00a0 The<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/deactivated-firearms-implementing-regulation-eu-20152403\">most recent specification was promulgated on June 3rd, 2016<\/a>.\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">The reasoning behind this\u00a0is that the EU introduced a new deactivation specification in April, 2016.\u00a0 Thus the motivation for a new British specification is the EU?\u00a0 Confused?\u00a0 The new British specification is based upon the new EU specification but they are substantially different (the conspiracy theorist in me thinks this was done mainly\u00a0to stop imports from other parts of the EU &#8211; the official explanation is that it was done to correct technical problems).\u00a0 Moreover the section talks about how it doesn&#8217;t\u00a0apply to transfers that occur outside the EU, so when and if the UK actually leaves the EU, the section therefore no longer applies.\u00a0 This is law-making in the era of Brexit, apparently.\u00a0 One can only speculate that if the UK leaves the EU, the June 2016 specification will be scrapped and everything will return to the older 2010 specification.\u00a0 (This is of course assumes the UK is no longer subject to the European Firearms Directive after Brexit, and that depends on what form Brexit takes).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Unfortunately this will be far too late for a number of dealers in deactivated firearms, such as Ryton Firearms, whose business was destroyed by this new law.\u00a0 A lot of customers are no longer interested in buying deactivated firearms that have been deactivated to the new specification and a lot of other customers are taking a &#8220;wait-and-see&#8221; approach hoping that the new regulations will eventually be withdrawn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I suppose dealers could rent deactivated firearms to customers, or perhaps a 99-year lease? At least that way older specification deactivated firearms could be transferred.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Big time warning to anyone who has an older specification deactivated firearm &#8211; don&#8217;t sell or gift it to anyone unless you have it redone to the new specification.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bear in mind this whole situation is still in flux &#8211; the EU accepted that there were technical problems with their specification and may then adopt the UK specification as their new specification.\u00a0 If this happens, I suspect the UK will still not be satisfied and will further fiddle with the UK specification out of fear of imports from the EU flooding the UK.\u00a0 More interestingly the EU has proposed recognising certain &#8220;equivalent&#8221; deactivation standards that pre-date the April 2016 specification, which means if they recognise the 2010 specification, that will further confuse the situation as section 128 doesn&#8217;t make provision for anything other than the current Home Office specification.\u00a0 So if the EU recognises the 2010 specification, will the Home Office?\u00a0 Like I said &#8211; badly worded.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And then of course there is the new\u00a0EFD&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The revised European Firearms Directive<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And onto the next tale of woe &#8211; the<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/eur-lex.europa.eu\/legal-content\/EN\/TXT\/PDF\/?uri=CELEX:32017L0853&amp;from=EN\">revised European Firearms Directive<\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #000000;\">that was adopted on May 17th and must be transposed into the national law of Member States within 15 months.\u00a0 For those of you paying attention, well before the UK leaves the EU (assuming it gives up on European law completely, I wouldn&#8217;t be taking bets on that.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It contains many new provisions, which run the gamut:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The adoption of a new marking standard compliant with the UN protocol, this is not that big of a deal because Proof House markings are still acceptable;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">A\u00a0requirement that Member States maintain records of all firearms sold or transferred in their territory, including &#8211; get this &#8211; up to 30 years after their destruction which obviously requires the destruction of firearms to be somehow kept track of.\u00a0 It&#8217;s laughable, unfortunately as it only applies to dealers and brokers, not much opposition was expressed about it and I suspect it&#8217;s one of the provisions that will ultimately cause the most problems;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Category D is scrapped and merged with Category C (subject to declaration), this means single and double-barrel shotguns become subject to &#8220;declaration to the authorities&#8221;, which doesn&#8217;t have any impact in the UK but will make life difficult in places like France and Austria;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Member States must have some sort of &#8220;monitoring&#8221; system of gun owners, originally this was going to be a requirement for medical checks but now it&#8217;s been more vaguely worded to say &#8220;relevant&#8221; information must be &#8220;assessed&#8221; in compliance with national law;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Newly deactivated\u00a0firearms go into Category C.\u00a0 This means that in the UK they will have to be declared to the police in some form or other, yet to be decided.\u00a0 The Home Office seems to think that RFDs will be able to send this information to the police, but transfers of deactivated firearms don&#8217;t currently have to go through RFDs so it will require some sort of change in the law.\u00a0 It&#8217;s also not clear how retroactive this provision is, any deactivated firearm &#8220;placed on the market&#8221; must be done to an EU recognised specification, so would that mean for example if the EU recognised the 2010 specification the transfer of those guns must be declared to the police as well?\u00a0 But\u00a0under current British law, anything pre-June 2016 cannot be sold or gifted anyway;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Semi-automatic centrefire rifles fitted with magazines that hold more than ten rounds and handguns with magazines that hold more than twenty rounds go to Category A (prohibited), with some fairly broad exemptions for collectors, target shooters and reservists.\u00a0 So if you don&#8217;t fit the gun with a magazine, it stays in Category B (subject to authorisation), which is a very complex way of imposing a magazine restriction.\u00a0 If you have a Category B firearm with an over-capacity\u00a0magazine then the Member State has to withdraw the authorisation to possess the firearm;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Fully-automatic firearms converted into semi-automatic firearms go to Category A, with an exemption for reservists who finish their service and hold onto a rifle, provided they comply with the target shooting exemption for Category A firearms;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Firearm licences have to be renewed at least once every 5 years &#8211; so the BASC plan for 10-year Shotgun Certificates goes up in smoke.\u00a0 Additionally, firearms must be kept stored securely, which at first glance doesn&#8217;t seem to be a big deal at it is already the law in the UK &#8211; but not for shotgun components and shotgun ammunition, so\u00a0that might be a problem;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Blank firers, CS guns, etc. must be made in such a way that they cannot easily be converted into firearms and the EU will adopt an official technical specification for them by September 14th, 2018 (there are already equivalent provisions in British law).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The one provision that is really going to cause big problems are the magazine restrictions, because it&#8217;s not clear how they will work in practice.\u00a0 The magazines are not prohibited, but Article 10 prohibits the <em>acquisition<\/em> of them, so if you buy an AK-47 magazine at a car boot sale, that&#8217;s illegal.\u00a0 The other problem is that it says: &#8220;loading devices for centre-fire semi-automatic firearms&#8221; are the ones affected.\u00a0 What does that mean exactly, does that mean if you have a straight-pull AR-15 (which is Category C) you can or cannot acquire magazines for it?\u00a0 Because the magazines are designed for a Category A\u00a0firearm, will they be subject to the restriction, or because they&#8217;re &#8220;dual-use&#8221; will they be exempt?\u00a0 And if they are considered exempt as &#8220;dual-use&#8221;, doesn&#8217;t that mean that someone can avoid prosecution for acquisition simply by saying it was intended for use with a bolt-action rifle?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">My guess is that this will work in a similar way to the ban on expanding pistol ammunition between 1992 and 1997, if you&#8217;re using it with a Category C rifle, you&#8217;ll probably be okay and there will be a condition on your\u00a0firearm certificate\u00a0that says you&#8217;re exempt, but if you have one without an FAC, that will be illegal.\u00a0 But will you be required to have the magazines listed on your FAC, because if you&#8217;ve owned AR-15s for any length of time you&#8217;re usually up to your eyeballs with various types of magazine!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">British shooters could end up in a bit of a mess on this issue as the exemptions for target shooters from Category A talk about firearms, not Category C firearms with magazines designed for Category A firearms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Oh well.\u00a0 I have to say I&#8217;m highly skeptical that after all of this is implemented that the Govt. will repeal it all in the name of Brexit.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>&#8220;The problem is not the problem.\u00a0 The problem is your attitude about the problem.&#8221; &#8211; Capt. Jack Sparrow in &#8216;Pirates of the Caribbean&#8217;.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>11\u00a0October, 2017 &#8211; Over the years the Conservative Party has always pretended to be friendly towards shooters, and in some cases they clearly were &#8211; David Cameron is a shooter and did quite a lot for us, such as holding back fee increases.\u00a0 However the Tories are possessed of a police state mentality which generally [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6,7,10,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","category-collecting","category-legal-issues","category-political-issues","category-target-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=737"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cybershooters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}