Obese fabulist Martin Samuels took time out from his busy schedule of making stuff up about attractive women to prove once and for all what we always suspected about hoplophobes:
Yep, I know what you're thinking: he isn't really that clueless, he's just hoping his readers are so he can rile them up with the idea of ethic gentlemen rampaging round the Home Counties with AK47s, but no - he really is that stupid:
Clearly, [Ashley Cole] attracts all manner of trouble on too many occasions to be blameless, but to allow any fool to own a firearm that can blind, maim or, if the most unfortunate circumstances combine, even kill is an accident waiting to happen.Curiously enough though, even plenty of fools understand the difference between a firearm and an air rifle. And no, the law doesn't recognise the concept of 'close enough for government work'.
Yep, I know what you're thinking: he isn't really that clueless, he's just hoping his readers are so he can rile them up with the idea of ethic gentlemen rampaging round the Home Counties with AK47s, but no - he really is that stupid:
There should have to be justification for possession, even for air rifles, because there are a lot of idiots out there and the less access they are given to explosive devices the better for us all.Anyone who says something that stupid deserves to shot repeatedly with a pellet gun until they can name what exactly the explosive is in an air rifle. Either that or they can explain why a country GP shouldn't be allowed to own an air rifle but the right of a fat fraud to publish bigoted rubbish is a vital bulwark against tyranny.
3 comments:
I've got 'explosive devices' in my kitchen and garden shed. I don't have one of those icky guns though, so no doubt Martin would feel safe as houses...
Next time I'm back in the 'old country' I'll be sure to purchase one of these new explosive airguns - quick, before they're banned...
The law regarding air rifles is already pretty strict. I don't have a huge problem with current air rifle laws as it happens. On this point you are incorrect: from the BASC:
"The law makes no distinction between air rifles and more powerful guns for which you need a licence – they are all classed as firearms."
What I do have a problem with is that they are not enforced in the slightest; but whenever there is an "incident" involving an air rifle the cries go up to ban them. For those (like me) who own an air rifle and use it responsibly, it is incredibly annoying, because this non-enforcement is an obvious method of raising the perceived danger in preparation for a ban.
Here's an idea: why not enforce the laws we've already got, instead of making up new ones?
For example (and remember most of these offences carry a minimum 5 year prison term):
The Crime and Security Act 2010 makes it an offence for a person in possession of an air gun to fail to take “reasonable precautions” to prevent someone under the age of 18 from gaining unauthorised access to it.
And yet, when we hear about children being shot in playgrounds by other children, is the owner of the air rifle found and prosecuted? No.
Parents or guardians who buy an air rifle for use by someone under 14 must exercise control over it at all times, even in the home or garden. Same again. Toddler gets shot by her brother when the (young) brother finds his dad's air rifle (loaded) and ammo in the same place -- lying on a chair. Prosecution? No.
It is an offence to fire an air rifle pellet beyond the land where you have permission to shoot, unless the occupier of the neighbouring land has also given you permission.
This pretty much covers firing an air rifle anywhere it could harm another. Prosecutions? No.
It is also against the law, in England and Wales, to fire an air rifle within 50 feet of the centre of a highway if this results in someone being injured, interrupted or endangered
Firing in your garden towards a road will also get you in trouble. Except it doesn't.
My suspicion is that the government doesn't want to make air rifle owners more responsible it wants to take air rifles away from people. There is no justification, so they are going to create one by allowing toerags like Ashley Cole to get away with shooting someone while claiming "yes, yes, air rifles are a problem".
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