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Firearms consultation "Fundamentally Flawed" says CLA President "The revelation that the Home Office consultation, that proposes significant restrictions on the ownership of shotguns, was issued without proper 'rural proofing' to establish its impact on rural communities means that it is fundamentally flawed," said Mark Hudson CLA President.
"In the 2000 Rural White Paper the Government stated that all policies would be systematically assessed to ensure that they did not have a significantly different impact on those living and working in the countryside. That the Home Office has failed to comply with this commitment over such an obviously rural issue as the level of controls on shotguns is very worrying,' continued Mark Hudson.Guns have a significant role in rural life, as DEFRA Minister Alun Michael said in 2002 at the CLA Game Fair: ....shotguns and rifles have a genuine and important use in the countryside... Some people use guns for pest control, others use them for sport and shoot either targets or live quarry, but there is no evidence to suggest that lawfully held guns are either used for criminal purposes or find their way into criminal hands. As Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary reported earlier this year: A measure of the effectiveness of current legislation and the responsible actions of legitimate holders of firearms is that relatively few are actually stolen, so that criminals intent on obtaining guns have to seek alternative avenues of supply. The consultation also ignores the importance of shooting to the rural economy. As the 1997 Cobham Report found, 26, 000 jobs in the UK are directly dependant on shooting, and the direct expenditure on the sport came to £402 million. "Had the Home Office gone through a conventional rural proofing exercise all this would have been apparent. Clearly we hope that this was just a one-off and we will continue to be vigilant," warned Mark Hudson. 7 July 2004 |
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More articles and documents [News Archive] [11 August 2004] GN22-03: Shotgun ammunition and homeloading [Guidance notes] [13 May 2003] Controls on firearms [Consultation response archive] [19 August 2004] |
Christopher Price is the Director Policy and Advice at the CLA. He has overall responsibility for managing all the CLA's national policy and advisory work. He makes sure that the organisation's policy work is focused on what matters most, and that members' queries are dealt with accurately and efficiently. A planning and environmental lawyer by background, he joined the CLA as public law adviser in 2002. He became Chief Legal Advisor in 2007 and took up his current post a year later. Before coming to the CLA Christopher worked in local government for a number of different authorities.
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