From: RustyBullethole, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Times 14.8.00
Straw may permit pistol shooting at Manchester games
BY PHILIP WEBSTER AND SHIRLEY ENGLISH
THE Home Secretary is considering proposals for pistol
shooting to be reintroduced as a sport at the 2002 Commonwealth
Games in Manchester without compromising the controls brought
in after the Dunblane massacre.
Home Office officials have confirmed that the Government
has received applications from overseas sporting organisations
to bring pistols into Britain for the competition. It is
looking at ways of allowing the British team to train in this
country rather than having to go abroad as they do at present.
But the Home Office yesterday firmly countered any
suggestion of a general relaxation in the ban which was
introduced after the 1996 massacre when Thomas Hamilton shot
dead 16 children and their teacher before shooting himself
dead.
It seems likely that British competitors will be
allowed to train at the national shooting centre at Bisley
in Surrey where the shooting events will be held at the
games. In preparation for the games, a range is to be built
at the centre with ú6 million of National Lottery money.
Kate Hoey, the Sports Minister, is believed to be
sympathetic to a call for British competitors to train in
this country. At present, the team has to travel to
Switzerland to practice.
Anti-gun campaigners yesterday pledged to oppose any
attempt to relax the ban on handguns. They said that an
exemption for the games, which would allow hundreds of guns
to be imported, would set a precedent which would lead,
inevitably, to an erosion of the law.
Gill Marshall Andrews, of the Gun Control Network,
which campaigned alongside the Snowdrop Petition, set up
in Dunblane after the 1996 shootings, said: "The prospect
of our gun laws being eroded is devastating. No-one will
believe this is a one-off. If it goes ahead there will
be other exemptions and we will have lost the ban on
handguns. That is how the gun lobby works. We cannot
allow that to happen."
She urged Jack Straw, who helped to steer the
original legislation through the Commons and House of
Lords, to remember the reasons why he had supported a ban
on handguns four years ago.
She said the gun lobby's claim that pistol shooters
were responsible and safe was an old argument. Hamilton
had owned guns legally, as had Michael Ryan, who was
responsible for the shootings at Hungerford.
"Labour, when they came to power, made a brave
decision to ban handguns. In terms of gun legislation
we have the gold standard in this country. It is a
source of inspiration for gun control groups around
the world. It would be devastating if we now went
back on that and changed our minds."
-----------------
How the hell this woman get so much space in
newspapers is beyond me.
Rusty
--
Letters to the (obviously biased) Times seem to be in order.
If they do allow shooters to practice prior to the Games
it will be a pretty major concession, it has to be said.
They were always totally opposed to that during the passage
of the Bill.
Who gives a toss if it's a "major inspiration" for gun
control groups? Aren't the Commonwealth Games supposed
to be an inspiration to a far wider segment of the population?
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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