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 Compel wrote:
Generally speaking, however, in the UK the police who wield guns *are* the professionals. You're not going to see Jimmy the Community Support Officer on firearms detail.

Never really looked in to it, but what are the opinions on police brutality and whatnot over there?

That would depend....were they trained by NYPD?

 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Generally speaking, however, in the UK the police who wield guns *are* the professionals. You're not going to see Jimmy the Community Support Officer on firearms detail.

Never really looked in to it, but what are the opinions on police brutality and whatnot over there?

Cases of it (real or not) can get into the news occasionally, but it's not really a big thing over here like it is for you guys over there.

I shot my first rifle last week, it was awesome and I'm going to take up range shooting and maybe pest control at my sisters property when i "know" i can expect to hit my target at range.

One thing that really struck me was how easy it was to actually hit the target reliably , I've only done archery before and i shot the target, looked at my mate and said "it's that easy?".
After that experience I have decided that guns most definitely need to be controlled and put in gun safes when not used. With no practice at all I could pretty much get next to the bulls eye even with my shaky hands. After witnessing the shake calming factor of breathing out, I'm now going to try it with painting - shooting taught me something.

It just seems that it's too easy to kill someone ( i know people move ect but that's not the point) .It's point and pull and someone has a serious injury. No up close and personal ripping through muscle with a bladed instrument ect.

This all being said , I now have an enthusiasm for shooting I'd really prefer a crossbow but i guess a rifle is the next best thing

Bullockist wrote:

This all being said , I now have an enthusiasm for shooting I'd really prefer a crossbow but i guess a rifle is the next best thing

Not to drag this OT, but it is really relaxing isn't it? Going prone and lining yourself up and everything, even the shot doesn't stop it being relaxing. When I get set up in a house more permanently I'm definitely getting my license (waiting till it's permanent so I can get a good and proper safe for the rifle, hard to justify bolting holes in the ground and wall in a rental property).

It so is motyak, when we switched to a smaller target I had the best fun sighting the target then waiting for the barrel wriggle ( I dunno what it's called) to come back to roughly where I aimed then snapping off a shot. Maybe i should try skeet shooting eventually, i figure the movementg might lessen my shakes, or maybe drinking less alcohol would work?

Try it with a pistol, then give us your thoughts.

Well I assume it'd be about as relaxing, you are still focusing on a target and excluding everything else, so you'd get the same calm from the focus.

But I guess it could be different

I was more talking in terms of the, "LOL, this is so easy!" aspect.

Rifles are very easy to shoot. Show me a good 15 yard pistol grouping, and I'll start a slow clap.

Hopefully I will try a pistol eventually. My "lol it's so easy" comment was due to archery being so much harder, i was expecting a similar learning curve but it seems when firing a rifle you start on a higher learning curve plateau.

I shall eagerly await your slow clap in about 5 years time, you flying over for it?

Just curious....what was your thoughts before experiencing fire arms?

 Valion wrote:
I was more talking in terms of the, "LOL, this is so easy!" aspect.

Rifles are very easy to shoot. Show me a good 15 yard pistol grouping, and I'll start a slow clap.

>_>

I couldn't hit a target at like 50 yards with my Mosin Nagant... My friend's dad sat down and shot three rounds right down the center of the y axis...

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Valion wrote:
I was more talking in terms of the, "LOL, this is so easy!" aspect.

Rifles are very easy to shoot. Show me a good 15 yard pistol grouping, and I'll start a slow clap.

>_>

I couldn't hit a target at like 50 yards with my Mosin Nagant... My friend's dad sat down and shot three rounds right down the center of the y axis...

My guess would be a flinch.

Snap cap time.

 Valion wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Valion wrote:
I was more talking in terms of the, "LOL, this is so easy!" aspect.

Rifles are very easy to shoot. Show me a good 15 yard pistol grouping, and I'll start a slow clap.

>_>

I couldn't hit a target at like 50 yards with my Mosin Nagant... My friend's dad sat down and shot three rounds right down the center of the y axis...

My guess would be a flinch.

Snap cap time.

I don't doubt it, also we had yet to sight it in... I wasn't too worried considering my buddy and our third friend couldn't hit anything either .

Alf I actually just finally handle one of those rifles this past weekend. Prone supported position be my advice for that rifle.....practice maintaining sight picture...which be a dime at the end of the barrel...squeeze the trigger....after you blink the dime should still be on the barrel (I am not going to go in depth in marksmanship training ) Make sure you squeeze the trigger between breaths....the body at the most relax

 Jihadin wrote:
Just curious....what was your thoughts before experiencing fire arms?

Before experiencing target shooting I kinda didn't get it. I thought guns are cool for properties and farmers but who needs them in the city.
I thought they should be controlled still (definitely in a gun safe whilst in the house) but I thought it would be much harder to hit something. Thing is, before shooting one I didn't realise the joy of shooting! I liked archery, I kinda should have realised.

If i keep enjoying shooting this much I might have to in a few years start a peacful march on canberra to over throw the australian government *waves to asio* If that statement i just made doesn't get flagged i really don't know what will.... oh yeah...Jihad...china ...hacker , that'll do it

I hate to kill a lot of debate, but after reading the thread title, I had a little hunch and checked out /k/. /k/ is the weapons board of 4chan, and tends to host some.... enthusiastic users. Apparently they've been trying to throw this poll off kilter ever since it was started.

So yeah, once again, internet polls get abused in hilarious ways.

News at 11.

Bullockist wrote:
I shot my first rifle last week, it was awesome and I'm going to take up range shooting and maybe pest control at my sisters property when i "know" i can expect to hit my target at range.

One thing that really struck me was how easy it was to actually hit the target reliably , I've only done archery before and i shot the target, looked at my mate and said "it's that easy?".
After that experience I have decided that guns most definitely need to be controlled and put in gun safes when not used. With no practice at all I could pretty much get next to the bulls eye even with my shaky hands. After witnessing the shake calming factor of breathing out, I'm now going to try it with painting - shooting taught me something.

It just seems that it's too easy to kill someone ( i know people move ect but that's not the point) .It's point and pull and someone has a serious injury. No up close and personal ripping through muscle with a bladed instrument ect.

This all being said , I now have an enthusiasm for shooting I'd really prefer a crossbow but i guess a rifle is the next best thing

glad you are getting into it!

 Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Generally speaking, however, in the UK the police who wield guns *are* the professionals. You're not going to see Jimmy the Community Support Officer on firearms detail.

Never really looked in to it, but what are the opinions on police brutality and whatnot over there?

Still happens, would be very unlikely to involve firearms officers though, as said they are far more professional than your average bobby.

Firearms Officers are indeed much more highly trained, and constantly required to retrain and qualify at regular intervals.

They pick volunteers and weed out the unsuitable ones. The fitness requirements are higher than a normal Police Officer too, not too many donut munchers in there (still a few big pilsbury dough boys out there though).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6fzArxMomQk

We simply don't have State Troopers, Sheriffs Dept, Municipal / Metro Police, State Police, FBI, DEA, ATF and all the other diverse and numerous Gun Totting Law enforcement agencies like in the US.

Wouldn't criminals (who want guns) possess said guns regardless of whether they were legal or not? I can't imagine a bunch of hard core East End crims suddenly going:

"Oi lads, the jobs off. We can't rob the bank 'cause shooters are illegal still. I guess we'd better find ourselves some real jobs ay?" (/cockney accent)

Well it seems I am massively outnumbered

I will put that down to bias, but I must say, under laws for rifle/shotgun ownership (Not sure on pistols pre-ban) self defence is NOT a valid reason to own a firearm, nor can they be carried in public, concealed or not. When being transported they must be in a secure gun case, and stored at home in a securely locked safe, with the ammunition kept separately, also locked away. I think laws covering shotgun and shotgun ammunition storage are a bit more relaxed, but rifle laws are quite strict.

Ownership is pretty much purely for those who take up sport shooting. (Or for pest control, farmers usually fall under this category) Not sure on US laws, and I know it differs by state, but over there, isn't self-defence a valid reason? That wouldn't work over here, and is not a reason I agree with personally.

 easysauce wrote:
in a perfect world where we always saw the bad guys gun, without him seeing us, and had time to run away, and call the cops, who arrive before he notices you or leaves?

just look at that poor army bloke who was chopped up in broad daylight, took cops 20 minutes to respond.

dangerous people are going to target the innocent, normal people are almost always the first responders to crime. They need the tools to deal with it.

Sorry but like much of the basis of this thread that is inaccurate. According to a Met Police spokesman police officers were on the scene within 6 minutes and firearms officers were on the scene within 10 minutes of being assigned, with the suspect being detained within a further 4 minutes. I am reasonably happy with this response as they achieved all of their goals without any further injuries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22649803 (i'm not sure is the media is available outside of the UK?)

If we were to address issues such as this or guns in general only of single or selected "fact" then we would soon be in the position where we were criticising the Boston PD for taking days to capture a pair of suspects indeed letting one escape for a further duration despite having all the guns, bells and whistles they could carry. This would be wrong as of course it ignores the detail of each case and what the officers in question experienced.

To the original topic, no thanks no guns needed here. I speak as someone that has worked with guns and has quite enjoyed using them in the past. As much as I would enjoy a bit of shooting again I'll not get back into it as I have greater concerns that over ride my own self interest - kids and guns don't mix IMHO

That said though there some fat pigeons that keep gakking on my lawn so I might be tempted to get an airgun again and put some .22 sized holes in them.....hmmm there's always temptation!

I'm British.
I want my guns back.
In the '90s I had a Sec 1 Firearms license.
I owned a rifle and several pistols, all legally.
I had to store them securely, and was interviewed by the police to ensure suitability.
At the time that guns were legally held in the UK, gun owners were the most law abiding members of UK society.
Yes, there were a couple of incidents (although what is not common knowledge, the shooter at Dunblane should not have had his guns, the interviewing officer recommended against him being licensed, but the Chief Constable was a friend and overturned the decision.)

I enjoyed shooting, did it competitively, and I'd like to do it again.
The ban was a knee jerk reaction caused by media hype and political point scoring.

Full disclosure: I've had some weapons training with the OTC, and fired SA80s, LSWs and innumerable Air rifles. I'm also from the rural North where shotguns aren't unusual.

That being said, I don't want guns in the hands of the general public. They are incredibly dangerous, and increasing availability to my mind just increases the chances of something going wrong. To use an apt analogy, its like playing Russian Roulette, but adding more bullets to make it 'interesting'.

Heck, I don't like it when I go abroad and the Police carry guns as standard. I feel far safer knowing that my chances of seeing a gun on the street are next to nil.

One man's opinion.

marv335 wrote:At the time that guns were legally held in the UK, gun owners were the most law abiding members of UK society.

Citation or it's BS.

 azazel the cat wrote:

marv335 wrote:At the time that guns were legally held in the UK, gun owners were the most law abiding members of UK society.

Citation or it's BS.

I thought people in the UK could own firearms it just the laws are strict.

 Cheesecat wrote:

 azazel the cat wrote:

marv335 wrote:At the time that guns were legally held in the UK, gun owners were the most law abiding members of UK society.

Citation or it's BS.

I thought people in the UK could own firearms it just the laws are strict.

We can own rifles and shotguns, subject to licensing, but not handguns. Yes the laws for licensing are quite strict (Less so for shotguns, or so I'm told, but they come under a separate license.)

Also; Azazel; I have no citation, but anecdotal experience, and I fully agree with Marv. You would struggle to find people more knowledgable about firearms laws. It's mainly because of the effort that you need to go to to actually get a license.

Also, If you were even arrested, but not charged you could find your licence revoked.
The police didn't need to give a reason to deny the application.
The threat of having your fireams cert revoked (and to hold them you'd need to spend quite a bit to keep them secure) ensured that legitimate gun owners tended to be scrupulous about being law abiding. Even traffic offences could lead to withdrawal.

 MrMoustaffa wrote:
I hate to kill a lot of debate, but after reading the thread title, I had a little hunch and checked out /k/. /k/ is the weapons board of 4chan, and tends to host some.... enthusiastic users. Apparently they've been trying to throw this poll off kilter ever since it was started.

So yeah, once again, internet polls get abused in hilarious ways.

News at 11.

Hm, Enthusiastic may be a bit light...