Attitudes Towards Guns?

[MrWilberbeast1 0]

Hey guys, I'm a shooter from Australia and I'm looking for a UK perspective on " attitudes towards guns"?

 

The feeling towards guns here is not good I'm afraid, the general public see them as distasteful at best and scary at worst. The local media tend to reflect this attitude and even encourage it.

 

A well respected UK ex pat member on a Aussie shooting forum said that wasn't the case in the UK. What are your guy's opinions on this?

 

I'm not wanting to cause a stir or start a debate, just get a better international perspective on the matter.

 

Cheers Will.

[bracken boy 584]

in the right hands with the right people no problem. the yanks are just so stupid with there handlings of them.

[Carraghs Gem 1,675]

Owned by sane responsible individuals they are a important tool for pest control

[neems 2,406]

People in general are scared of them,I'd bet if it went to vote they'd be banned completely.

[paulus 26]

A gun leaning up the wall in the corner of the room is incapable of harm or changing attitudes, a person with intent to harm or influence can change that in seconds

[walshie 2,804]

A gun leaning up the wall in the corner of the room is incapable of harm or changing attitudes, a person with intent to harm or influence can change that in seconds

 

Very true Paulus. "Fear not the weapon, but the hand that wields it."

 

Luckily our laws here try to ensure that gun owners are responsible people.

[scothunter 12,609]

shotguns and sporting rifles have a place in our country,and i would not like to see them banned.as for the rest of the guns they have no place in the hands of the general public .Thats my view anyway

[j j m 6,539]

a gun is no different to a hammer or ant other weapon if you intend to use it irresponsibly and cause harnm then its there,most people i know around guns are good people that use them responsibly and with great care most love the sport and like to get guns a good name,like anything else in life you will always get a idiot

[04fox8 168]

a gun is no different to a hammer or ant other weapon if you intend to use it irresponsibly and cause harnm then its there,most people i know around guns are good people that use them responsibly and with great care most love the sport and like to get guns a good name,like anything else in life you will always get a idiot

Agreed!

[MrWilberbeast1 0]

Thanks for the reply's guys, I'm in the same camp as most of you. Regulating any dangerous thing, is not a bad thing (eg. drivers licence, electrician licence etc. ). What I am curious about is the attitudes of your non shooting mate's and family are?

 

Most of my family and friends come from a city life style and have distaste for guns but my rural friends (where I live now) have different persecutive.

Is this the same in the UK?

[3175darren 1,100]

I think most people who have been brought up with, or close to guns understand them,and even if they dont partake in them themselves, dont particularly bother too much around them, as they are part of the country scene,its the ones who dont see them as a way of gathering food or control of pest, ie towny vegetarians [the ones who seem to control the media]I think veiw them as bad and do everything they can to highlight them in a bad negative and biased way,then you have got the difference between the cities and town's, alot of people in the cities are not exposed to guns in the same way, and the see them as owned only by the criminal element of society so fear them,they associate them with violence,and if you think about that, they are probably the people furthest away from their legitimate use,In a town you get a varying amount of tollerance's to them, as around the edge of towns you invariably move into small farming areas who have a need to control vermin,then you get into villages where they are part of the comunity life so are less focussed on,however the main problem is the way the media report gun crime, and the television tortray guns to the public,they feed some peoples fantasy,as other people have said its not the gun thats at fault at all, its the idiots who need to be locked up anyway,mentally drunk on the shit the television and facebook is feeding them,anyway rant over

[Ratreeper 441]

I agree with what Darren says above really, in the countryside there are no problems but those who live in the city generally differ, either because they don't like to think that their food once lived in a field or they just fear guns through the wrong exposure.

 

Things have changed even in my short lifetime (25 now, talking about 10-12 years ago), as when I first had rifles we had no bother walking through villages carrying them on the way to shooting bunnies. The only attention we go was the odd person asking if we could sort out a pigeon in their garden etc. I am not condoning it but you would never get away with it now without armed police and helicopters, so I think attitudes are more negative now than ever really. Plus I would regularly see the odd old chap with a shotgun on a footpath or at a fishing pond, I can't remember the last time I saw it now though.

[Astral 253]

On a smaller scale view, some may know Im finishing off some study currently and when I arrived at uni deciding to set up a student gun club, the University freaked out like I'd asked to set up a bomb innocent children club! I explained it was no different to the archery club who have a section of field as a range way out the way in a safe area, and the guns would be limited to those not requiring a FAC. To which they freaked even more and I nearly got disciplined for suggesting bringing offensive weapons on grounds...

90% of those I speak to at uni seem to be against it, one student asking me why the hell I need a shotgun (It was an SMK 12fps air rifle....) The shops are open. I'm cruel, horrible, barbarian etc etc....

 

Soooo gave up on that front and joined a local club instead. They are great. Seems like the closer into a city you get the more detached views are on hunting in general, where I come from in the Forest of Dean most are interested positively or at the very least indifferent to it to you, if I walked to the next village with my rifle on my back (Not that I would, this is just an example) The worst I'd get is getting caught up in long conversations with those interested! Here in Bournemouth they have the chopper out and armed response within 30 seconds...

[3175darren 1,100]

On a smaller scale view, some may know Im finishing off some study currently and when I arrived at uni deciding to set up a student gun club, the University freaked out like I'd asked to set up a bomb innocent children club! I explained it was no different to the archery club who have a section of field as a range way out the way in a safe area, and the guns would be limited to those not requiring a FAC. To which they freaked even more and I nearly got disciplined for suggesting bringing offensive weapons on grounds...

90% of those I speak to at uni seem to be against it, one student asking me why the hell I need a shotgun (It was an SMK 12fps air rifle....) The shops are open. I'm cruel, horrible, barbarian etc etc....

 

Soooo gave up on that front and joined a local club instead. They are great. Seems like the closer into a city you get the more detached views are on hunting in general, where I come from in the Forest of Dean most are interested positively or at the very least indifferent to it to you, if I walked to the next village with my rifle on my back (Not that I would, this is just an example) The worst I'd get is getting caught up in long conversations with those interested! Here in Bournemouth they have the chopper out and armed response within 30 seconds...

When they said shops are open,[ cruel horrible barbarian,] would have said you were shooting targets,whats cruel about that target shooting is a pastime of discipline,and patience,I would have then said where do you think shops get it from,you bigot then walked away,we are constantly being discriminated against by these people until all country oriented people,are gone

[Its_grim_up_norf 577]

i think you hit it on the button when you said about rural friends and city dwellers having differing views...in a city, guns are held by criminals on the whole. Don't get me wrong city people still shoot, buut you get less sporting shooters in a city, and certainly a decrease in farmers etc. Where i live, rural, theres countless shoots in the surrounding areas, hundreds of farms. guns aren't as shocking or as feared when you grow up around them and none of your shotguns are sawn off...but viewed as sport/pest control instead of weapons used by wrong uns.