Blog Update - 28/8/22
Hi all,
An update for you on what’s going on in Rob Dietz Shooting land. It started as a simple “this is the situation”, but rapidly turned into an almost 2000 word epic!
The piece that I promised on my point of view concerning Targets-Only shooters is being written, and I should (hopefully!) have that up this weekend.
On a much bigger note, I had to do something yesterday that I had hoped wouldn’t happen, but I’m not surprised that it did.
Shoot write-ups might be a little sporadic for a while, as my guns are now stored with a Registered Firearms Dealer.
My certificate was due to expire in July, and I sent the renewal in 4 months before that in March. The 3 month extension I was granted ran out yesterday.
Almost 3 weeks ago, I contacted Devon and Cornwall Firearms Licensing reminding them of the situation, and just asking what the way forward was, both to make sure I stayed within the law, and to see what response I got. I was expecting none.
To my surprise, I received an email back with a general Firearms Department signature, to say that all was well as far as what I needed to provide, and that when the Firearms Enquiry Officers got to my application, they would be in touch.
It went on to say that they could issue me with a temporary permit valid for 1 year, dated 2 days before the extension expires, so that I could continue to posses and use my guns.
I haven’t received anything yet, which could be due to factors beyond their control (such as postal strikes and that it’s now a Bank Holiday weekend), and doesn’t mean that I won’t.
But there are a number of things about this that I am not impressed with, and my situation is dreamland compared to some others!
Firstly, my record is completely clean. The only thing on it is a European Firearms pass that I asked for back in 2016 when I was planning to shoot the British Open in Northern Ireland.
So, if nothing has changed in my situation (everything as far as security, registered address, and such are the same as when I applied for my first certificate), and there’s nothing of concern on the medical side, why isn’t it a simple and quick process to do the interviews, complete the application, issue a new licence, and clear it from the system?
Before you jump at that, I am not after special treatment. I know there are others who have the same spotless track record, some who have held a licence far longer than I have, and it should be pretty straightforward to get them checked and cleared as well. Especially if they have RFD status!
Secondly, the part about when the Officers get to me they will be in touch. That’s fine, a queue is a queue, and I will gladly wait my turn – except that those words give an impression that Police HQ are not watching what the Enquiry Officers (who are not Police officers as far as I am aware) are doing that closely.
Do they not know where I am in the queue, or are they just not bothering to provide a proper service and communicate properly with Licence holders? Or, is their system so flawed and haphazard that they do not know?
Also, do these Enquiry Officers have firearms training, and have Firearm licenses themselves? If not, then my limited understanding and knowledge questions whether they should be involved in the licensing process.
Thirdly, the choice of words about the temporary permit. “Can”, not “will”. This follows on from the point I’ve just made about providing a proper service.
I reminded them of my situation almost 3 weeks ago. How difficult was it, following that email, to get a temporary permit made up, date it for 2 days before my extension expired, and have it sent out to me a week before so that I had it, ready to go?
Now, I realise that it could be on its way to me now, just held up in the postal system. But that isn’t the point.
The wording implied that, “we can do it, but we’ll make you do the legwork and remind us, while testing you to see if you comply with the law and surrender your guns to RFD storage. If you don’t, we have all we need to revoke your licence and remove the risk you pose.”
This article is, of course, my personal views, and may not represent reality, but you have to admit - it isn’t hard to get there!
Where is the pro-active approach? If I don’t have anything through the post by the middle of the coming week, I’ll have to chase it with the Firearms Department AGAIN.
They should be able to call up any person’s application and see at a glance what progress has been made on it, the date it expires, and do anything they have to do before it lapses and forces us to take measures to stay within the law.
I have done everything required of me, never been in trouble with the law, and have no convictions AT ALL. Yet I am having to go out of my way to keep myself in that situation, and lose the freedom to participate in a sport I have dedicated myself to for over 10 years.
And then there’s the length of time mentioned – a year! No hope of things getting better quickly then!
The questions must be asked - why is it so bad, and what is the ulterior motive here?
All certificate holders received a letter from the new Head of Firearms and Explosives Licensing for Devon, Cornwall, and Dorset back in May (Dorset as well now! The departments must have been merged, creating even more chaos!) outlining their issues, and apologising for the poor level of service.
It also said that staffing levels have improved, but that the outstanding backlog would take some time to shift. Improvements were expected through 2022, and accelerating through 2023.
The main issues noted were the COVID pandemic and lockdown having a big impact on staff levels, and preventing them from visiting certificate holders; the incident in Plymouth having an impact on the licensing department; and more robust guidance requiring much more of both applicants and police services – such as provision of doctors’ letters by applicants, and more robust checks by the police.
The vaccine program was also highlighted as one reason why doctors’ letters were delayed.
But I’d like to make the point that we’re now 2 years into living with COVID, and everything is about 2/3rds back to where it was before. I do not think that excuse is valid any more. There’s been ample time, in my mind, to build a system that works. Unless of course nobody did. Or meant to.
And where did the team that was in place go? Did they vanish overnight? And what were they doing to have such a backlog in the first place?
There’s no doubt that the incident in Plymouth back in 2021 shook the whole gun licencing system to its core, and is definitely the root cause of our current predicament.
But that was not the fault of decent, law-abiding gun owners who were no danger at all to anyone, and who were, for want of a better word, persecuted for items on their records that were 10, 15, or maybe more, years ago.
I was glad that all the efforts I’ve made over the years to keep my record spotless paid off, and that I wasn’t in that situation. I really feel for those who were.
That crazed, mentally deranged nutter should never have had his guns returned to him by Devon and Cornwall Police, who could have easily checked with a quick search online and found the vile material he was producing. If my memory is correct, the news coverage even mentioned that his own father told them he should not have the guns back!
But, because the Police made a catastrophic error of judgement, the sledgehammer has come down on licence holders who have done nothing wrong, but have something on the records that the Police don’t like, or can use as an excuse to confiscate their guns. All to give the impression that they are doing their job properly.
If the Police want to kill off shooting in this country, they are going the right way about it. But why?
Shooting is a national sport in these islands, and we have some of the best talent in the world (exhibit A - Mr George Digweed). Yet it is largely hidden away and treated as our dirty little secret, with some hoping that it will quietly fade out.
I have long said that an excellent way to impact the gun crime is to fully embrace the shooting sports, teach safe gun handling and self discipline, and what happens when it goes wrong to the younger generation especially. Get the right stuff in their heads early, and it will benefit them and society for life.
After all, guns do not kill people. I could take one of my shotguns, load it, take the safety off, put it down somewhere, and leave it.
It will sit there until the end of time without firing, unless somebody picks it up and pulls the trigger, some other disturbance causes the hammers to release, or the mechanism deteriorates and causes it to fire, whichever comes first.
And that assumes that the primer and propellant in the cartridge have not also deteriorated by then.
People harm people, and a gun is just another tool for them to use. If somebody has decided to commit grievous harm to another, they will use whatever is to hand. Even a paper clip can be deadly, not to mention what we have in our kitchens within easy access.
But in our society now, people taking responsibility for their own actions seems to be an increasingly rare thing. It’s always someone else’s fault, or for reasons that have no direct connection, or someone else has to come to the rescue because the person cannot change things themselves. There are exceptions, but 9 times out of 10, it’s nonsense.
In my opinion, running shooting into the ground only destroys the livelihoods of a much vaster section of this country than anyone really knows about, and denies people like me, who have dedicated a vast portion of their life (not to mention all the hard work and money spent along the way!), access to a sport they are passionate about, and are totally safe while doing it. Indeed, I am all for upholding standards and improving them wherever possible.
If you want proof that going down the restrict access and banning route is not the answer, look at the centrefire handguns ban. If that worked as intended, then there would be no gun crime in this country.
The recent Liverpool shooting where a 9 year old girl tragically lost her life is a case in point. How did the gunman get hold of a gun if they are not available? Simple proof that the right noises in the right places are all that’s needed, regardless of what the law says.
Unfortunately though, I am just an ordinary bloke with this little blog in the corner of the internet, whose opinions do not align with the majority. Therefore they are worthless to that majority.
It’s very unlikely that anything will change, and that does not bode well for our sport.
I hope you enjoyed my little rant, and I’ll keep you updated my personal situation as it develops.