Time for airguns to be banned? (ex-shooter rant)

I am absolutely fed up with reading stories of airgun mis-use in the local and national press. In the last week I’ve read of a teenager being shot in the face by an airgun “sniper.” He may have suffered permanent nerve damage which would mean he’d be unable to smile. Also, a cat that was shot dead after being hit by multiple shots and today I read about some more swans being badly injured by airgun pellets.

Why is it that swans are so ofter a target for these idiots?

I used to shoot air rifles competetively but gave up a couple of years ago as more and more undesirable characters turned up at the local club.

Modern air rifles can be magazine fed, bolt action loaded, extremely accurate and can produce muzzle velocities (in .177) of 800 feet per second. And can be bought by anybody with no vetting or reason for ownership.

I’m all for a free society but it has to be proportional to general attitude. I think it’s time that airguns are put on Section 1 and require a firearms certificate.

*awaits jets of hot flame*

I know a man that drowned his wife in their garden pond. Should we demand tighter control of water features?

fair enough as usual it’s not the item but the user that is the problem

can’t really argue against, why should airguns be treated differently from firearms?

mrmo – currently, airguns are not considered “especially dangerous.”

Perhaps it’s time to reconsider this. Things have come on a hell of a lot since my grandad’s Webley Jaguar.

My neighbours feckless child was shooting pellets into my garden, aiming at my cat. Caught him doing it once. Haven’t found any pellets in my garden since.

I know a man that drowned his wife in their garden pond. Should we demand tighter control of water features?

NO!
I’d like to keep that option open now you’ve mentioned it.

My old Webley that my Dad had as a kid was far more powerful then any modern one at the time as it was built without any restrictions.

It’s sadly down to a few people abusing them, if there’s no air rifles they’ll just use something else.

My neighbours feckless child was shooting pellets into my garden, aiming at my cat. Caught him doing it once. Haven’t found any pellets in my garden since.

Did you throw the kid in your pond?

I was shot the other week commuting from work.

No I shot him in the face with a Muslamic Gay Swan bazooka.

Well i guess it might have something to do with whether there is a serious and widespread issue of airgun owners acting dangerously, or a small number of high profile incidents, as per most things. I don’t have the figures to hand, but i am pretty sure BASC will have some background on this proportion of incidents vs. number of owners?

Regarding the advances in technology, fair enough on multi-shot rifles, this might be worth more thought from the industry/ authorities (although of course, one shot at a inappropriate target is too many). As for power increases, well this is a set limit. It doesn’t matter how future-tech your airgun is, if you go over the power threshold (12 foot pounds for rifles, 6 for pistols) you require a firearms certificate.

So that would apply to airguns from the 1950’s and today. I don’t think pellets have come on a massive amount over that time (still a small lump of lead basically) either.

I think maybe compulsory membership of a club or BASC, which includes legal advice and insurance, might be the next step and could be a requirement before sale. This is basically un-vetted licensing and wouldnt require a massive increase in the cost of regulating firearms certificates for much more dangerous shotguns, rifles etc.

My old Webley that my Dad has as a kid was far more powerful then any modern one at the time as it was built without any restrictions.

I hope it’s not still around then as it is probably classed as a firearm and without a firearms licence the owner would be in a lot of trouble if caught.
I have an Air Arms S200 that I use for rabbit control. It’s mind numbingly accurate and the muzzle veolicity can be increased over the legal limit in less than 20 seconds.
I agree, there really should be stricter controls.

not sure if they should be banned but thinking back, I’m suprised how many of my mates had air guns when I was a kid.

A firearm would not be at the top of my list of gifts for an 11 year old.

I hope it’s not still around then as it is probably classed as a firearm and without a firearms licence the owner would be in a lot of trouble if caught.

Oh noes!

Nope it was almost 30 years old when I got it. I used it for about another 5 years or more before it exploded the springs and lever all one the place.

Air guns have been being mis-used since the year dot. My better half was shot with one, my father some 30 years earlier. I’ve been shot with a shotgun loaded with rice. Nothing I see suggests an increase local to me at least?

It’s the user, therein lies yer problem.

We used to fire blu-tack at each other!

Bikebouy is therefore 100% correct

My neighbours feckless child was shooting pellets into my garden, aiming at my cat. Caught him doing it once. Haven’t found any pellets in my garden since.

Have your neighbours found their child yet? And is that why you call yourself ‘Lifer’?

I don’t think you should deprive your children, and your children’s children the opportunity to shoot pigeons off your neighbours fence.

Well many of the fun things of my youth are/will disappear – sheath knives, airguns, catapults, riding without helmets, swimming in rivers/lakes unsupervised, solo rock climbing….where/when will it stop? More cotton wool please….

Glad that my younger son went on geog field trip to study coastal features this week. After the formal work they all enjoyed climbing the sea-stacks. Good job H&S were nowhere to be seen.

As much as I enjoy shooting (both professionally and for recreation), I am very. very keen on making sure that the people that own them use them responsibly. That’s possibly the reason that I won’t get one for my nephew yet. He need a bit of maturity before that happens.

Air gun owner, used for vermin (fur and feathered types) control and occasional can shooting. The gun is a gas powered bolt action job with an 8 shot magazine, and I’m astonished that I could walk into the shop buy it an walk away giving nothing more than some money and my name. I don’t think they should be banned, there are legitimate users, but should be licensed. I’d go with all new purchases needing a license and unlicensed ownership carrying a hefty jail sentence

I haven’t ever noticed them to be a problem. In fact, I haven’t noticed them, full stop.

On one hand, I accept that the UK is a densely populated country, and that there is not all that much place to play with airguns safely, so there may not be all that much point to owning one.

On the other hand, we are going to regulate everything fun right out of existence. That is, after all, the British way. I mean, if it’s not airguns, it will be something else.

So on balance I say leave airguns alone.

Air guns have been being mis-used since the year dot. My better half was shot with one, my father some 30 years earlier. I’ve been shot with a shotgun loaded with rice. Nothing I see suggests an increase local to me at least?

Do you own a caravan and an untaxed, un-MOT’ed Transit?

Well many of the fun things of my youth are/will disappear – sheath knives, airguns, catapults, riding without helmets, swimming in rivers/lakes unsupervised, solo rock climbing….where/when will it stop? More cotton wool please….

I agree to the greatest extent, though common sense does seem to be falling rather sharply and a knee jerk reaction like the OP occurs due to the now well puclicised nature of such incidents.

Glad that my younger son went on geop field trip to study coastal features this week. After the formal work they all enjoyed climbing the sea-stacks. Good job H&S were nowhere to be seen.

Not sure you’d have said that if he hadn’t come back from it because H&S were nowhere to be seen.

The problem with all objects that are easily determinable as weapons is, I reckon, once they are in your hands the testosterone or something goes crazy and some peoples brains just get overridden by the urge to hit things/pets/people with them.

I’d like to see all civilian ownership of anything that could be classified as a weapon banned. Improvised weapons don’t hold the same issue imho, but you can bet that little do-gooders will push the envelope there.

Weapons are for war, there are no other reasonable purpose for them.

Do you own a caravan and an untaxed, un-MOT’ed Transit?

No 😀 One was in a commuter village in rural lancashire, one was in the centre of liverpool and one was in a farmers field near wigan. 🙂

mrdestructo – Member
The problem with all objects that are easily determinable as weapons is, I reckon, once they are in your hands the testosterone or something goes crazy and some peoples brains just get overridden by the urge to hit things/pets/people with them.

Your kitchen must be a pretty scary place. 😉

I’d like to see all civilian ownership of anything that could be classified as a weapon banned.

I’ve got a slender metal pen sitting on my desk. I could happily pierce someone’s neck with this, or perhaps even their skull if I thrust it in hard enough. Would you like to ban pen ownership?

mrdestructo – Member

The problem with all objects that are easily determinable as weapons is, I reckon, once they are in your hands the testosterone or something goes crazy and some peoples brains just get overridden by the urge to hit things/pets/people with them.

I’d like to see all civilian ownership of anything that could be classified as a weapon banned. Improvised weapons don’t hold the same issue imho, but you can bet that little do-gooders will push the envelope there.

Weapons are for war, there are no other reasonable purpose for them.

Steady now, jerking your knees like that could have someone’s eye out

I’d go with all new purchases needing a license and unlicensed ownership carrying a hefty jail sentence

The people going around shooting swans, cats and passers by won’t really care about a licence.

Black widow catapult. Loads more power than your namby air rifles. A lad at school had his humerous broken by one.

Weapons are for war, there are no other reasonable purpose for them.

What about shooting pidgeons?

FWIW some kind of licence is probably a good step. Doesn’t need to be as arduous as a full on firearms licence, but more arduous than rod licence for fishing. Just a database of name + address and a £100 annual permit would be enough to put off anyone not doing it as a hobby or a job. The problem is the 1000’s that are probably already arround (and the tiny fraction in the ‘wrong’ hands).

Black widow catapult. Loads more power than your namby air rifles. A lad at school had his humerous broken by one.

+1, most air rifles would do more damage whielded as a club than a gun

Weapons are for war, there are no other reasonable purpose for them.

That may be so, but war can teach you a lot of things. Especially if it is war on old fizzy drink cans. There is little more satisfying in life than dotting the ‘i’ in Pepsi with a .177 calibre BB from a good distance.

A lad at school had his humerous broken by one.

I had one skim/richoet off of my hip. Jesus the vibration/pain was crazy.

LOVED THEM. Ace fun. I wont go into too much detail 😆

The people going around shooting swans, cats and passers by won’t really care about a licence.

No, but it stops the spread right now, and over time the numbers in the wild will fall. The people shooing swans, etc may not care about a license, but they may may care about some jail time, and their neighbours might be happy to see the get it.

We used to shoot at toy plastic soldiers. It’s just like real war and they were real and really far away… accepting that in scale terms we had some silly caliber rounds.

There is little more satisfying in life than dotting the ‘i’ in Pepsi with a .177 calibre BB from a good distance.

Shooting the heads off matchsticks from about 20′ was my favourite.