From: "Alex Hamilton", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Whenever my house is un-occupied, even if only for a
>weekend, all of my firearms go into storage. The weekly
>cost per firearm may be small, it soon mounts up when
>you've got 12 of them.
You seem to thrive on unnecessary complication, George.
Provided your firearms are kept locked at home and your home safety
arrangements have been agreed with the police, you will not be held
responsible if they are stolen if your house if burgled. So, make sure
that the firearms are adequately insured and enjoy life!!!
>When I tried to surrender some hollow-point bullets on the Saturday
morning before
>before the deadline they were refused. I left the police station with
a dilema, I still believe
>they should have taken responsibility for.
Would it not have been more sensible for you to have fired them several
weeks before the deadline, or failing that isn't there a river or a lake
in your area which would have "accepted the responsibility"?
Oh, no! You like to turn up at the police station on "the last day" to
give them more paperwork!
You are a pest George and you are not doing yourself or the sport any
good with that attitude.
>I compete to ensure that I have good cause for owning the firearms,
because I doubt that target
>practice on its own will continue to be good cause.
Now, that sounds terrible, George! You shoot in competitions to create
"good reason for posesion", which can only mean that you keep these guns
for the purpose for which the FAC would not have been granted if the
true purpose had been known. That sounds like a very old member of our
club, probably long dead, who used to say that he only joined the club
because the police would not let him keep his Webley to shoot the
burglars if he did not take up target shooting!
>My plan? Three months before my renewal is due, I shall
>have completed my own set of renewal forms. My referees
>will be briefed. I shall send a covering letter explaining
>that time is of the essence (Rickard's case?) and why,
>together with the forms on the day after I receive them
>from the police. I shall enclose a copy of the letter
>asking for it to be receipted and returned to me. I
>will advise them of my intended actions, i.e. arriving
>at Police HQ with all of my kit for storage, should my
>renewal not be completed on time. I will also advise
>them of the likely costs associated should they fail to
>perform in the time period THEY HAVE PROVIDED.
You do not need a plan to renew a FAC. Just complete all the paperwork
in good time and submit it. If you are not happy with the speed of
police response complain to the Home Secretary, but do make sure that
your problems are not the result of overwork within your police force.
I think you are just scoring points against the police, George. I bet
they are thinking: " Oh, God! Here comes that pain in the proverbial!"
Is there a sport that you could take up that does not require any kind
of licencing?
>Anyone what to buy an interesting Management Consultancy
>so that I can retire to France?
People want problems solved - not created. Why not just forget the
Consultancy, retire and stay amongst friends and in your own home?
Alex
--
I think you're being a bit harsh Alex.
For one thing, the police do tend to take a dim view of firearms
being stored in an unoccupied property, the general rule of
thumb they use is that if the house is unoccupied for more than
two weeks at a stretch (with a fair bit of occupation inbetween)
then it is not secure.
Dumping ammunition in a lake is illegal and stupid, and I for
one had the same problem - I exported my guns but still had
a lot of ammo left over that I had to hand in. The police
should have accepted his ammunition, the Home Office Guidance
on surrender of unwanted firearms and ammunition is quite
explicit.
There is no explicit need to compete to have target shooting
as your "good reason", however, 12 guns on an FAC is quite
a lot and if all of them are used for target shooting I
suspect that competing helps.
If you're not happy with the speed of the police response,
complain to the Chief Constable and the local Police
Authority and whichever shooting associations you happen
to be a member of. Calling the Home Office only helps in
my experience if the police are doing something wrong,
but if they're doing something slowly it doesn't help
much.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________
T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
