Guns, lost or stolen in the UK

TheMightyTen said:
Becuase "cap" guns as you call them are nothing like the smell, feel and effect of Black powder and would not allow correct demonstration of drill, should I also trade my yew longbow in for a plastic one? Showing the effect black powder has when fired is integral to demonstration at historical shows, have you ever seen 2 ranks of 30 fire by volley in real life? The field disappearing in a cloud of acrid smoke can not be recreated with "cap" guns, the blackened faces from smoke with riverlets of sweat you have at the end of large battle recreations can not be recreated with "cap" guns. Oddly what makes us safer when we are "charged" before and during battles is following the correct drills as laid down in the period, accidents occur when those drills are not followed.

Saying that in the 25 years I have been reenacting I've only ever seen 2 major accidents, one was black powder related when a rammer on a cannon crew forgot his drill and held his hand over the end of the rammer instead of around it -spark, bang and you can imagine the rest, needless to say he couldn't continue his career at Games Workshop HQ as a figure design sculptor. The other accident was in a situation where there was no black powder at all, a lad tripped over his own shield and fell mouth first onto his own (reenactment blunt) sword, luckily it was at an angle and the sword came out the side of his cheek rather than continue to the back of his throat.

You do hear of the odd incident at other events around the country and the world but they are few and far between. The thing you most commonly see is minor bone breaks from the ruff and tumble of battle or people collapsing with dehydration spending hot days in personal tin can saunas.

In the group I mostly work with now we have a 1 strike and you are no longer allowed to live fire rule where 'misplaced' firearms are concerned, many groups also apply this policy.

All that being said, if you do find yourself being held up by a scrote carrying a stolen musket duck for cover for the first shot and you then have at least 20 seconds while he tries to reload to nab the blighter :p
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I'll keep that in mind :D, at least there is more chance of them blowing themselves up :p

Fair enough I can see the historical value, but people need to be responsible like yourself and keep them in a secure offsite location so they can't loose them :)
 
estebanrey said:
I'm sure it is, and I'd have a lot more respect for those that just admitted they liked shooting animals. It the pretence that they are somehow environmentalists or serving the greater good by committing the lesser of two evils that gets me.
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If they admitted that they liked shooting animals then there would be a outcry from parts of the press to have their guns taken off them as they are clearly mentally unstable.
 
I enjoy shooting live animals, that's why I am a member of a pheasant shoot, can easily shoot 250 pheasants in a day between 8 - 12 people and it would be a lie to say I eat them all but we do take a brace and the rest go to the game dealer and the funds put back into the syndicate.

I attend duck days where again it's easy to shoot 150, Pigeon days over just drilled fields are good fun, the only day I didn't enjoy was a wild duck shoot in Essex and when not in season I shoot clays.
 
estebanrey said:
I'm sure it is, and I'd have a lot more respect for those that just admitted they liked shooting animals. It the pretence that they are somehow environmentalists or serving the greater good by committing the lesser of two evils that gets me.
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Yeah I agree with this, I don't have a problem with people owning guns or shooting vermin, but I do feel stricter controls are needed on storage.

I get the impression the only reason people want guns in their home is for a feeling of protection, which then puts the rest of us more at risk.
 
dekez said:
Fair enough I can see the historical value, but people need to be responsible like yourself and keep them in a secure offsite location so they can't loose them :)
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I agree entirely, definitely in the case of reenactors there is absolutely no need to store any kind of firearm at home.

I honestly think that licencing should change to reflect the specific roles of owned firearms and one of the requirements for a reeactment piece should be off site storage; a matchlock may only be a metal tube on a lump of wood with a touch hole but empty a couple of fireworks and bash a lead weight into a ball and it can still kill someone.
 
For the knee jerk boys who couldn't be bothered to even read the article:

"There are nearly two million licensed firearms in the UK and 3,000 represents a tiny 0.15% of that figure," said Mr Harriman, who is also a forensic firearms examiner.

....

"Generally my experience of people who shoot in the UK is that they are very careful and very responsible people."
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Also when the hell did we start blaming the victim of crimes for having been burgled!


Dekez although I don't like pest control you will find it a much more humane way of
killing vermin than poison or traps (both of which may not be used in many circumstances as they will kill any creature, not just the one you are after) Unfortunately some people do use the general license as an excuse to shoot living animals purely for pleasure :(

Oh and if someone genuinely lost a firearm then an automatic ban should be placed on them as that's just not acceptable.



Having said all that this is a BBC article and as such is only marginally more believable than the daily fail.
 
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dekez said:
Yeah I agree with this, I don't have a problem with people owning guns or shooting vermin, but I do feel stricter controls are needed on storage.

I get the impression the only reason people want guns in their home is for a feeling of protection, which then puts the rest of us more at risk.
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Do you actually know what controls there are on storage to begin with?

As well as having a police approved cabinet (gun safe) which has to meet certain criteria, such as being bolted out of sight to an outside wall/supporting wall securely, your home is also visited by an FEO (firearms enquiry officer) who will interview you and inspect your home security. If he feels your house isn't secure enough he can hold up the application until the changes have been made.
Keys to the safe must also be kept safe and NO ONE (who doesn't hold the appropriate licence) must know where they are kept. There is a case where a person had their licence revoked due to their 80yr old mother knowing the location of the cabinet keys -the fact that she couldn't even lift a shotgun wasn't important.

As for people who don't hold guns being more at risk than those that do... well you're into 2nd amendment territory now :D
 
Some people aren't as careful. My dad walks his dogs in a farmers field he said he walked past a pickup with the tailgate down and 2 shotguns and cartidges just sitting in the back. Obviously my dad left it, but if a bunch of bad kids had walked past they may have stolen them.
 
Teknobry said:
Do you actually know what controls there are on storage to begin with?

As well as having a police approved cabinet (gun safe) which has to meet certain criteria, such as being bolted out of sight to an outside wall/supporting wall securely, your home is also visited by an FEO (firearms enquiry officer) who will interview you and inspect your home security. If he feels your house isn't secure enough he can hold up the application until the changes have been made.
Keys to the safe must also be kept safe and NO ONE (who doesn't hold the appropriate licence) must know where they are kept. There is a case where a person had their licence revoked due to their 80yr old mother knowing the location of the cabinet keys -the fact that she couldn't even lift a shotgun wasn't important.

As for people who don't hold guns being more at risk than those that do... well you're into 2nd amendment territory now :D
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No, to be honest I know very little about guns other than what is in that article and what films and fps have taught me :o.

That all sounds very secure which is great....but then why are people still loosing them and having them stolen?! :p
 
estebanrey said:
When you say "destroy" you make it sound like they deliberately going around rioting an vandalising trees for a bit of a laugh.
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When he said "destroy" that's what you thought he made it sound like? Your a bit more imaginative that what I am, can't say any of that crossed my mind, lol. :D
 
Seems like a decent thread to ask in.

I've got a pair of airsoft guns, bought before the new laws came in.

Do I need to get some sort of gun licence for them now? How do I go about selling them if I wanted to?
 
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