From: "SA Mail", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SPORTSMAN'S ASSOCIATION
NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 2001
As I write this Newsletter I note that the present
Government is preparing to use its authority, under the
Parliament Act, to force through their legislation to
reduce the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16 years
despite the obvious opposition to the notion from the vast
majority of the population. That just about sums it up,
doesn't it? In their absolute determination to appear at
all times to subscribe to the latest fashion, Political
Correctness, the Government will, at least in public,
support any minority group that may provide them with a
few more votes at the next Election. The actual rights or
wrongs of a case do not seem to matter. As a personal
viewpoint, a sixteen-year-old boy is still, legally, a child
(as, indeed, is a sixteen-year-old girl) and should be
accorded civilised protection as a child but that is, as I
say, a personal view.
Our Rulers have, many times in the past, expressed their
concerns about the possible development of a 'gun culture'
amongst the population and declared that their legislative
activities are, at least in part, designed to prevent that
from happening. We have many times countered by saying that
there is no more a gun culture amongst legitimate shooters
than there is a golf culture amongst golfers. Any problems
in this regard are squarely attributable to the criminal
classes and none of the Government's legislation has impinged
upon them.
By definition, laws can only provide guidance, or a code of
practice, for the law-abiding and prescribe penalties for
those law-breakers who actually get caught. We would like
to see much more effort being devoted to the latter rather
than to the former.
What is to be done about it all? This Association believes
that the only effective long-term solution is to use the
political system rather than to fight it. By using it we
can gradually bend it to our will rather than being
constantly trying to defend ourselves from the whims of
others. However, this will involve considerable effort by
all people who believe in freedom of choice. Most people,
I imagine, do not want to get involved in politics - which
is why militant groups can achieve domination of any
organisation that they wish to 'take over'.
Political action has always been a very important part of
The Sportsman's Association strategy for the return of our
pistols and the implementation of fair and sensible Firearms
legislation. We have tried to influence politicians by
presenting them with fair and, hopefully, informed
submissions on the subject of firearms law. We have held
demonstrations (our own marches) to show that we represent a
lot of people, we lobbied MP's etc. - i.e. we tried to use
the weapons of democracy. The results of these efforts are,
unfortunately, plain for all to see - we lost! We will now
have to extend our range of activity to include encouraging
suitable people to stand for Local Council elections, General
elections etc. and influence party political thinking.
We recently wrote to the leaders of our major political
parties to find out what their current official policies
were regarding Firearms legislation. Copies of the original
letter from us, and the party responses, can be found on our
website, but I will summarise briefly for the benefit of
those without Internet access:
i.. The Conservative Party indicated that they were
still formulating their Firearms policy and invited us to
meet with them to discuss the matter. We intend to do this
before Christmas this year.
ii. The Labour Party response was, sadly, predictable,
being a brief summary of the recent Government response to the
HASC report.
iii.The Liberal Democrat leader passed the matter on
to their Home Affairs spokesman and we are still awaiting a
full response. We are also awaiting a full response from
Plaid Cymru.
iv.The Scottish Nationalist Party gave perhaps the
most definitive response. Following the Dunblane massacre
they suggested that all existing certificates for handguns
be revoked, and after a transitory period returned to their
owners under conditions including an absolute ban on home
storage of weapons; the prevention of holding more than one
gun in any calibre and insisting upon the prior and continuing
membership of a 'gun club' by each and every applicant. This
is still the SNP's official policy.
We will provide further information about the Firearms policy
of our political parties as and when we receive it. The value
of this information is obvious with a General Election possibly
only six months away. Obviously we would not dream of trying
to influence how anyone should place his vote in a General
Election, in that sense we are an apolitical Association, but
we hope Shooters will find the information useful when considering
how to cas
