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23ib0d0n · Moderator

Hand-in Campaign
(29 January 2008)

Staffordshire Police is running a campaign to encourage owners Shocked

to relinquish their air weapons and BB guns, in a bid to reduce anti-social behaviour Rolling Eyes

and make our communities even safer.

Trends show as nights grow lighter, and specifically during school holidays, more incidents involving air weapons and BB guns are reported to police.

The campaign will run from 4 February to end April, ahead of the half-term school holidays and the Easter break.

Air weapons used carelessly or thoughtlessly puts lives at risk. They can kill, seriously injure or disable.

People carrying or using air weapons, BB guns or fake guns could face the possibility of being confronted by armed police officers. Carrying an air gun without good reason in a public place is illegal and could result in a minimum five-year prison sentence.

Chief Inspector Phil Fortun, air weapons campaign co-ordinator, said: “People reporting an incident to the police don’t know whether it is a real gun, an imitation or an air gun. The most experienced armed officers can find it difficult to tell the difference even at close range.

With the potential of someone being in imminent danger, appropriate action has to be taken, and that can mean deploying armed response officers.

“Gun-related crime in Staffordshire is rare and when it does happen, we tackle it proactively.

“Air weapons and BB guns are not toys. A 12-year-old boy tragically died in Stoke-on-Trent following an incident with an air gun in 2006, last year a three-year-old girl was injured in Stoke-on-Trent, and primary school children on their playground in Rugeley suffered minor injuries during an incident involving BB guns,” added Inspector Fortun.

“As in other parts of the country, Staffordshire does have a problem with air gun misuse – especially where young people are involved. We’re determined to tackle this because air weapons and BB guns are a major cause of nuisance and worry in our communities.”

Anyone wishing to hand-in weapons should disarm the gun, put them in a box or bag, and take it to their nearest police station during enquiry office opening hours.

What is the real score here? When did the fascists take control?

Definately something wrong when the state doesn't even trust the citizenry with bbguns . . . WTF?

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Don't act hysterical. It has nothing to do with trust, as the article says. It has to do witht he fact that kids are running amok with airguns/bbguns. Clearly, children can't be trusted with such a responsibility, and their parents should show some responsibility too.

I don't mind such actions. If you are a serious shooter, you won't have anything to do with this.

I do find that replicas are unnecessary. It's nonsense to own a fake gun.

Also, you shouldn't use the word fascist so easily. I'm not sure how things work in the UK, but I'm sure they don't have something as stupid as the right to own a firearms to protect yourself. It's selfish to buy a gun for your own protection or that of your children. That's Anarchy. I don't know what's worse, fascism, or anarchy.

I'm a sole believer and supporter of the shooting sport, but I can't stand the fact that people buy a gun because they are scared of their neighbours, or afraid that something might get stolen.

In the end we all die and we're not gonna take anything from this world with us into the grave. If someone thinks he got more right to my money or my stuff then me, he might as well take it. Sure, I won't be that happy about it, but I got insurance to cover such business.

Rant for today ends here.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Hi J
Nothings going on over here it are just the normal reaction of a police chief to things going wrong on his patch.
Each County has its own police department with a chief of police in charge, and when a couple of people, cats, dogs of whatever get shot with a plastic bb pellet, there is an outcry about gun control, so an amnesty is called and everyone is asked to turn in there guns including air weapons. The police have problems telling the difference between bb guns and air guns. Using this method of asking the public to voluntary give up there guns cost the police nothing to instigate, and a few bb guns will be handed in, so then the police can say it was a success, and everyone’s happy. The thing that is overlooked is the fact that the criminals and idiots don’t hand their weapons in. this sort of amnesty is also used for knives and firearms, where they finish up with a load of kitchen knives and useless rusty guns.

The stopping of buying airguns on the internet all started when a drunk high on drugs shot a small boy with an air rifle and killed him, this caused the changing of the air gun laws in the UK, ( the drugs were sold to the drunk by the boys mother) knee jerk reaction. But we can still buy anything from aboard legally without any problem.
Similarly hand guns (fire arms) were banned, when a guy armed with a hand gun and an automatic rifle killed I think 16 children in a school in Scotland, within three months all the legal hand guns in the UK were bought up by the government. Another knee jerk reaction. Now there are more illegal hand guns in the UK than ever, you only have to go over to the Continent fill your car boot up with guns and drive back; evidently the chances of getting caught are virtually nil.

Just the other day there was a big enquiry in the shooting of a guy with a sword, the enquiry wanted to know why the police shot him nine times, they said inappropriate force was used, it then came out that the guy was so high on drugs and threatening people with a sword, so the police shot him with two baton rounds which made no difference, then they shot him six times in the chest which also made know difference, he still kept coming towards the police so they shot him three times in the head which finally stopped him. So you can see from this that it’s not only air gunners, who get stick about having guns, but also the police do also.

The thing is that there is still a class system in this country those at the top want to keep there way of life on there vast estates and farms, where they can shoot anything with just about anything, and they feel their position is threatened if the lower classes have access to guns. And when you consider that a lot of the government consists of these people, the ordinary guy in the street has no chance.

My rant over.

Al

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

Yes, the FORMER British colonies.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

It would appear that the Americans were given the right to bear arms in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights, inherited from the English Colonists that settled North America. So the law that allowed the USA to go gun mad was provided by the English, I think the idea was that if we couldn't shoot every body that opposed to our rule, then we gave you a law so that you could do it yourselves. Smile

And another thing the "Europeans" that were sent over there didn't go to extort money from Americans, it was from the French, Germans, Dutch, Spanish, Norwegians and Swedes. The Americans were to busy plotting there civil war with all the guns they had aquired.

A short history according to Al. Laughing

You see I know as much about the USA as you know about the UK. Mr. Green

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

You got it all wrong man. When Abraham Lincoln discovered America in 1812, he wrote the Constitution and stated that all men, regardless of the color of their skin, would have the right to bear arms. And it would be four score and seven years later that George Washington delivered his "I have a dream" speech, in which he proclaimed that he didn't have sexual relations with that woman...that "woman" of course being Harriet Beecher Stowe.

You see, I didn't sleep my whole way through my U.S. history courses. I was awake long enough to glean the salient details at least.

Isn't Britain somewhere in China?

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Dang! I knew I shouldn't have missed American history class- I thought Abraham Lincoln had a dream about having 71 virgin brides and Jimmy Carter freed the slaves- or maybe that was Grover Cleveland. And didn't Barry Atwater initiate the civil war? Razz

DaveK · New Member

The best quote I ever heard about the American Revolution was this...

<i>British subjects, fighting for British values, against a tyranical German monarch</i>

DaveK

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Ho well thats History sorted out, amazing what you learn on here init. Laughing

Al

23ib0d0n · Moderator

What I still haven't figured out, is how any law abiding citizen turning in a bbgun could possibly stop criminals or the stupid from commiting crimes or being moronic . . . Huh?

Wouldn't the more prudent course of action be, holding the wrong doers accountable for wrong action, and training 'John Q. Public' to be responsible for themselves and their community, while not relying on 'Big Brother' to sort out how everyone should "think" or behave?

Why is owning an inanimate object, like a bbgun, subject to the secret thought police creating a media blitz aimed directly at the law abiding? Rolling Eyes

These media supported attacks by the 'secret thought police' is what really bothers me the most. 'Tard

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

23ib0d0n · Moderator