Credit: Diliff
Campaigning against proposals contained within the Offensive Weapons Bill continues after a Commons debate scheduled for 15 October was delayed.
Many of the Bill’s most damaging proposals have already been removed, but shooting organisations are still vocally critical of plans to ban .50 calibre rifles.
The Bill was due to have its third reading, but – according to the Commons leader – urgent oral statements in Parliament meant it had to be postponed.
There was speculation that the government had pulled the debate because it was expecting a defeat, with many MPs supporting shooting and planning to rebel against the proposals.
BASC has urged all shooters to contact their MP to express support for amendments to the Bill tabled by Geoffrey Clifton Brown.
BASC’s director of communications, Christopher Graffius, said: “BASC is challenging the proposed ban on behalf of those shooters who own and lawfully use .50-cals without posing any criminal or national security threat.
“But more than that, those shooters who may never wish to own a .50-cal should also be alive to the dangers of a prohibition that would allow an unsympathetic government to reduce the energy limit further to ban smaller-calibre rifles used for deer stalking and pest control.”
All shooters are urged to contact their MPs to let them know how strongly they feel – every MP convinced means a greater chance that the proposals get removed from the Bill.
Find out how to contact your MP at: www. parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
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