The name of a rose.

If a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Then A.C.P.O. by any other name would still be as divisive. Under the instructions of the Home Secretary, Theresa May M.P, A.C.P.O was disbanded, and rebranded as the “National Police Chiefs Council” or N.P.C.C. new name, but the same old faces, doing the same old thing. A good example of this is Andy Marsh, and his pet project to get the public to complain about gun owners. In a previous incarnation, the Crime-stoppers hotline was removed after much public outcry from shooters, B.A.S.C., and Countryside Alliance members, as well as many others.

In its new guise as the N.P.C.C. Mr. Marsh has again put forward a, shop-a-gun owner-hotline, which he has re-named as the “Gun Safety Security Hotline”. So not only does ACPO have a new name, so it would appear do their failed projects. For those of you who follow the never ending struggle of civilian firearms ownership, against those who would for personal reasons, or for political gain, like to remove all firearms from private hands, the new wording is not new. As with all the recent moves by these groups or individuals, they try to sell their agenda under the “safety” banner, this is despite all evidence to the contrary which clearly shows that shooting and shooters are exceedingly safety conscious, and fully aware of their responsibilities when they own any form of firearms.

This link will take you to the minutes of the NPCCmeeting do please read all of it, there are some very interesting items within it that have nothing to do with the hotline. For example the Scottish police were already under full steam, prior to the general election, with their proposals on air gun licensing in Scotland. Other items that will soon be published are an updated security handbook, issued by the Home Office. So do not be surprised to see at some point that a 5 gun cabinet will not be allowed to have 6 six or more guns in it. It is ten pages long, but is an insight into the aspirations of a group of unelected officials to pursue a personal agenda.

So once again I implore you to join an organisation that will help fight for shooting in all its forms. Our friends in the US have a saying, “if you are not pulling the cart, you’re getting a free ride”, and with around 750,000 license holders, shotgun, firearms or both, in the UK, and the largest organisation membership being BASC with around 24,000 members, there would appear to be an awful lot of shooters sitting back and enjoying their sport without actively trying to protect it. Bearing in mind that for every license holder there are about another 6 people who shoot, without possessing a license, on a regular basis, that makes around 4,500,000 people shooting.