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DELEGATION IN No 10 PROTEST OVER GUN SPORT CURBS
131254 JUL 00
By Russell Fallis, PA News
A delegation of shooting enthusiasts today took a petition of 50,000
signatures opposing plans for new firearms controls to Downing Street.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation is campaigning against
recommendations in a Home Affairs committee report on firearms, including
statutory licensing and age limits on low-powered air weapons and greater
controls on shotgun ownership.
"The proposals would stop the education of our young people in the
stewardship and management of the countryside and stop the development of
Olympic-standard shooting disciplines," BASC's Carl Cox said outside No 10.
Dressed in tweeds and stalking gear, 42-year-old Mr Cox from Ashbourne,
Derbyshire, arrived in Downing Street accompanied by nine-year-old shooting
enthusiast Thomas McKay and 1999 Great Britain shooting team member Liz Lamb,
also both from Derbyshire.
The delegation were accompanied by Guns, a black labrador carrying a letter
for Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The group caught the attention of the Home Secretary Jack Straw who was
leaving a cabinet meeting. He chatted briefly with them about their concerns,
but declined to take the letter and petition.
"We are totally opposed to the licensing of air weapons and a ban on
under-14s taking part in shooting sports," said Mr Cox, the Midlands regional
manager of the BASC.
"The Government must understand what is going on in the countryside and stop
further restrictive firearms legislation."
The Government's own figures show shooting sports to be one of the safest
sports in the UK, with more participants than rugby or hockey, according to
the 130,000-member BASC.
Robert Corbett MP, who chairs the select committee, said: "We want licensing
of all firearms which have the potential to kill and this will mean licensing
of most of the air weapons now in circulation."
A Home Office spokeswoman said today: "The Government is still considering
the report and will give its response in due course."
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