Sensible or over the top? I feel this one to be quite a good idea
Parents who fail to keep air guns away from their children will be fined up to £1,000 under a new offence from next month.
Sex God
Join the most popular community of UK swingers now
Login
New law come into place, 10th Feb
Sex God
Excellent. Air guns can and do kill. They have no purpose apart from target shooting even in responsible hands. So there is really no reason for them to be avaiable to any child inside the home or outside. Kids who want to learn to use them should be doing it at a club where they get proper tutoring about safety as well as the fun.
You could say similart about knives but they are a common part of daily life and we (are supposed to) teach our children not to touch or play with them, same as electricity outlets. Guns have no place kicking about at home. And I'm sure farmers and game-keepers - who have a solid reason for having guns at home - mostly take their gun safety and children very seriously.
You could say similart about knives but they are a common part of daily life and we (are supposed to) teach our children not to touch or play with them, same as electricity outlets. Guns have no place kicking about at home. And I'm sure farmers and game-keepers - who have a solid reason for having guns at home - mostly take their gun safety and children very seriously.
Sex God
Quote by foxylady2209
Excellent. Air guns can and do kill. They have no purpose apart from target shooting even in responsible hands. So there is really no reason for them to be avaiable to any child inside the home or outside. Kids who want to learn to use them should be doing it at a club where they get proper tutoring about safety as well as the fun.
You could say similart about knives but they are a common part of daily life and we (are supposed to) teach our children not to touch or play with them, same as electricity outlets. Guns have no place kicking about at home. And I'm sure farmers and game-keepers - who have a solid reason for having guns at home - mostly take their gun safety and children very seriously.
I fully support this law as there are many parents who underestimate the power of these guns, and believe them to be toys.
However they have an important part to play in pest control. Also many parents are more that capable of instructing a child on gun safety.
Below pest control in action;
Sex God
Good point - I've seen them used on TV for killing rats.
'Proper' guns have to be in a locked gun cabinet if they are kept at home - I think that's still the law. The same should apply to air guns. I also agree that most parents are very capable of instructing kids on safety, but I feel that should be hand in hand with practical safety steps. Least of all to stop friends of friends getting hold of the weapon.
'Proper' guns have to be in a locked gun cabinet if they are kept at home - I think that's still the law. The same should apply to air guns. I also agree that most parents are very capable of instructing kids on safety, but I feel that should be hand in hand with practical safety steps. Least of all to stop friends of friends getting hold of the weapon.
Sex God
Quote by foxylady2209
Good point - I've seen them used on TV for killing rats.
'Proper' guns have to be in a locked gun cabinet if they are kept at home - I think that's still the law. The same should apply to air guns. I also agree that most parents are very capable of instructing kids on safety, but I feel that should be hand in hand with practical safety steps. Least of all to stop friends of friends getting hold of the weapon.
I think this is where the law is heading, I believe once it has been tested in a court of law a few times, the only safe place to keep an air gun will be in a gun cabinet, which are not expensive. Good quality cabinets are no more than the cost of a good air gun.
The Government introduced a new offence last week to stop under-18s gaining unauthorised access to airguns. From 10 February, owners will be liable for a fine of up to £1,000 if they to fail to take reasonable precautions to prevent their airguns from falling into the hands of children.
A circular sent to chief police officers says that the definition of reasonable precautions will depend on each individual case and it is therefore not possible to be prescriptive. It goes on to say that different considerations will apply depending on whether an air weapon is in use or not.
Quote by browning
TBH, the kind of parents that don't keep control of thier guns won't pay the fine anyway.....
This it the most relevant comment so far. There is no licence required to buy or own an airgun that operates below the sub-12ftlb muzzle energy limit, and they are seen as toys by a great many people (adults mainly who have no idea about weapons).
This law is fast law - fast law is always bad law. What is the point in having a law that you cannot enforce?
The only way to do it would be to bring Airguns onto the same standing as Firearms, with all the necessary precautions.
.... but remember that there are many more Airguns in the country than what there are Firearms - and for the main part there is no record by the manufacturer or retailer as to who a gun was sold to (in some cases there is - in most cases there is not - i.e. second hand purchases).
Like "Browning" says, responsible people will control their Airguns - the irresponsible by definition will not - and it is the irresponsible that this law is aimed at... a law that cannot be enforced.... until it is too late and a subsequent investigation into a blinding reveals that the person who had access to the Airgun, had that access because the gun was not secure.
A £1000 fine for an irreponsible owner that is unlikely to pay it is little comfort if you have lost your sight.
Another stupid law.
Sex God
Quote by browning
I believe that the minimum sentance for possision of an ilegal firearm is 5 yrs, and yet, I recall reading somewhere that less than 50% of criminals recieve that sentance.
Another knee jerk reaction to guns.
Knee jerk law is rarely good law! More info below
As the Government digests the Home Affairs Committee’s report into firearms licensing, nearly 800,000 certificate holders wait patiently for the official reaction. A history of knee jerk reactions to high profile incidents has victimised legitimate firearms holders, whilst doing nothing to combat the increasing amount of crime committed with illegal weapons. Following the tragic events in Cumbria, the Home Affairs Committee announced that it was revisiting firearms controls in this country. Watch this new Countryside Alliance film in which we investigate the implications of some of the Committee’s major proposals.
During this Inquiry, the Countryside Alliance encouraged supporters to lobby members of the Committee and their local MPs, offering personal accounts about why shooting is important to them. Hundreds of letters were received by the Committee. Representatives from the Alliance provided oral evidence to the Committee at Westminster and gave a presentation on game shooting to members of the Committee who visited the National Shooting Centre at Bisley. Prior to the hastily arranged debate in Parliament just before Christmas, the Alliance promptly briefed MPs on shooting. The resulting Commons debate was peppered with sensible contributions from all sides of the house. Despite this, the Committee has put forward some recommendations which would have serious ramifications for all who shoot
The sad truth is that the kind of parent that would keep any kind of firearm where a child could access to it is the type of parent that could not afford a £1000 fine and the kind of person that would not have the sense to see the danger therefore being of the thought "never happen to me" ie not the brightest bulb on the christmas tree.
A form of punishment is needed but 10p a week for the rest of your life because that is all the courts have decided is what you can afford to repay your fine just will not cut it, we have to live in the real world. A short sharp custodial sentance would wake them up to the danger they are putting thier children and other into and might just ring a bell to prevent it happening in the first place.
Ok I know our jails are full and the courts are not handing out enough custodial sentances as it is but that is a whole new can of worms.
Build more prisons, there is a huge % of people in court each day because they are re-offenders, so much money is spent on police forces whose main job is to chase the re-offenders who should have been locked up in the first place, if they had been locked up for correct lengths of time we could actually have less police officers and more prison wardens.
Add to that court time (magistrates and judges are not cheap, ushers, security and all the rest cost a fortune to mostly sentance re-offenders to more non-custodial sentances.
Buy some of the training camps the army want to sell off and use them as open prisons for minor offences like not paying fines, no tv licence, repeated minor offences, car theft, open some "Boot Camps" for young offenders the money is there to do it but at the moment it is all being spent on dealing with re-offenders that shouldn't be on the streets anyway they should be locked away learning a lesson.
A form of punishment is needed but 10p a week for the rest of your life because that is all the courts have decided is what you can afford to repay your fine just will not cut it, we have to live in the real world. A short sharp custodial sentance would wake them up to the danger they are putting thier children and other into and might just ring a bell to prevent it happening in the first place.
Ok I know our jails are full and the courts are not handing out enough custodial sentances as it is but that is a whole new can of worms.
Build more prisons, there is a huge % of people in court each day because they are re-offenders, so much money is spent on police forces whose main job is to chase the re-offenders who should have been locked up in the first place, if they had been locked up for correct lengths of time we could actually have less police officers and more prison wardens.
Add to that court time (magistrates and judges are not cheap, ushers, security and all the rest cost a fortune to mostly sentance re-offenders to more non-custodial sentances.
Buy some of the training camps the army want to sell off and use them as open prisons for minor offences like not paying fines, no tv licence, repeated minor offences, car theft, open some "Boot Camps" for young offenders the money is there to do it but at the moment it is all being spent on dealing with re-offenders that shouldn't be on the streets anyway they should be locked away learning a lesson.
Warming the Bed
"A circular sent to chief police officers says that the definition of reasonable precautions will depend on each individual case and it is therefore not possible to be prescriptive"
there is a get out of jail card
it depends on how the airweapon is accessed
but does it now go on to the airsoft weapons ..remember these also can have the same power as an airgun
they too can push out 12pound per foot
and can kill ...but are specificaly desinged for kids.
please remember ..it is not the airgun ..it is the person who holds it
put it on a table and do not touch it ..it will not hurt u
same as a knife ..on the table it is harmless
its all about education
there is a get out of jail card
it depends on how the airweapon is accessed
but does it now go on to the airsoft weapons ..remember these also can have the same power as an airgun
they too can push out 12pound per foot
and can kill ...but are specificaly desinged for kids.
please remember ..it is not the airgun ..it is the person who holds it
put it on a table and do not touch it ..it will not hurt u
same as a knife ..on the table it is harmless
its all about education
Quote by acrchy
"A circular sent to chief police officers says that the definition of reasonable precautions will depend on each individual case and it is therefore not possible to be prescriptive"
there is a get out of jail card
it depends on how the airweapon is accessed
but does it now go on to the airsoft weapons ..remember these also can have the same power as an airgun
they too can push out 12pound per foot
and can kill ...but are specificaly desinged for kids.
please remember ..it is not the airgun ..it is the person who holds it
put it on a table and do not touch it ..it will not hurt u
same as a knife ..on the table it is harmless
its all about education
Airsoft weapons have to be bright colours now, pink/yellow/green. Although they are powerful.
If you want to buy a airsoft in its correct colour, you have to be a member of a registerd group.
