But if you aren’t you do realise that there are only certain types of animals you are legally allowed to shoot?
I don’t think cat (domestic or otherwise) is on the list and you are probably committing a firearms offence.
Just criminal damage. From a moral point of view, why is it OK for people to release an unnatural apex predator into the environment and then be unaccountable for the damage it might do to protected species?
If I turned my dog out first thing in the morning and went to work whilst it wreaked havoc to farming livestock or protected wild animals, I would be punished and/or the dog would be destroyed.
The glaring shortfall of the law as it stands is that for some bizarre, archaic reasons, cat owners are not held accountable in the same way that anyone else is.
Let’s look at it from a different angle: If I had a pet alligator or a poisonous or constricting snake, should I be allowed to let it loose all day? What would you want to happen of that animal was allowed to roam, completely unfettered, on your property and kill your pets or wild birds after you’d spent a lot of money trying to create a safe haven for them?