From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I like Mathew Wright's plan for a united (and unifying) body. But I suspect
one of the unstated difficulties in the shooting world, in addition to the
chronic parochialism and dog-in-the-manger attitude of so many Brits, is that
of social class. Take the CA - I've been to meetings, met CA types, and many
of them are fine, but at bottom the driving force is clearly hunting. Now
when I use this word privately I mean pursuing the creatures of the wild with
rod, gun, or whatever, but in their book "hunting" means sitting on a horse
and chasing a fox with hounds, and even this piffling matter of terminology
holds lessons. Talk to them, use the word "hunting" in any sense but their
own, and observe the bafflement followed by amused condescension: "Oh, you
mean stalking/vermin control/rabbiting/big-game hunting, old boy!" Study the
second-hand bookshelves and pick out the books entitled simply "Fishing" -
open them, and you find they're not actually about fishing, they're
specifically about fly-fishing for trout and salmon... No other type of
angling is worthy of consideration. Trivial? Not in the long run: the refusal
to emerge from the stifling chrysalis of class-conscious sporting tradition
cripples most efforts to unite different branches of fieldsports and target
shooting, because for many people the feeling that they are engaged in some
elite, exclusive activity encased in an ancient web of arcane jargon and
custom is the main reason they go "stalking" (odd word) or fly-fishing, or
mole-wrenching, or whatever.
A sadly similar phenomenon exists at the opposite end, as it were. How many
people have told me of their experiences in air-rifle or smallbore shooting
clubs, I wonder, when any reference to full-bore pistol or field-shooting has
been met with slighting references to "cowboys" or "bloodthirsty killing" or
some such pitiful garbage...
It's difficult to avoid feeling that our society is just too decadent to save
itself, when shooting enthusiasts of different complexions prefer to wither
away in their own rapidly-shrinking circles rather than broaden their minds
and unite in a common cause against the forces of totalitarian bureaucracy
and suburban intolerance. BTW I read that a further effort to oust the BASC
supremo is coming up. What do others think of John Wossname? He's always
appeared to me like a typical CA type - certainly a good communicator, but
because of his class, social background, schooling etc, he inherently (and
fatally) believes that if one deals with the political establishment in the
way that gentlemen have always dealt with one another, a decent compromise
will emerge. And he lacks the streetfighting killer-instinct to galvanise his
membership into kicking our political leaders in the groin - then stamping on
their heads when they fall to the ground yelping. We're engaged in a struggle
to preserve our way of life and our essential liberties. Trouble is, I
suspect this is appreciated by too few people in the CA and the BASC. I'll be
there on March 18th, but the date itself is a cowardly cop-out: it ought to
be a day or two later, so our Peasants' Revolt can snarl up the Smoke good
and proper...
Anthony Harrison
--
I think it's safe to say both BASC and the CA appreciate the situation
we are in. The CA even have an ad on page 53 of the current edition
of Target Sports pointing out the issue of shooting being progressively
banned.
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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