Car breakdown with rifle

[John Gryphon]

I walked through a busy part of central London with it in a case,

I packed my 7mm ammo into my suitcase, the rifle into a hard case and boarded a train on the Gold Coast Qld and travelled to Brisbane airport with both cases at my feet, walked through the busy airport to the counter and checked in for a flight down south, past the boys in blue and security staff too.
I still feel that although it would have peed me off that I should have been at least 'queried'. Got off at Melbourne airport and went deer hunting.

 

[Klenchblaize]

I had a mate that stopped off for a mc Donald's after a stalk, five miles later he was stopped by armed police as someone had seen his knife sheaf on his belt ( it was luckily empty ) and reported it . Police turned up at mc donalds saw his vehicle reg on the the stores camera and tracked him down. If reported that have to show to respond I would have done the same as the op just to save any hassle.

Couple of young lads near me had a similar experience in a moterway service station. But then they just couldn't resist rocking up in full-on spaghetti western fashion and giving the coffee serving wench the eye, who didn't take kindly to the dudes dripping in camo and fidgeting with their quick draw bolt holsters!

K

 

[ContinShots]

Drunk people have been shot for carrying a chair leg wrapped in plastic, when they purported to be 'armed', threaten to shoot the Police, and then acted as such when the Police responded to the public's call for assistance.

On 22 September 1999, Stanley was returning home from the Alexandra Pub in South Hackney carrying, in a plastic bag, a table leg that had been repaired by his brother earlier that day. Someone had phoned the police to report "an Irishman with a gun wrapped in a bag".

At the junction of Fremont Street and Victoria Park Road in South Hackney, close to his home, Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan, the crew of a Metropolitan Police Armed Response Vehicle challenged Stanley from behind. As he turned to face them, they shot him dead at a distance of 15 feet

Hardly the same as jumping in a cab, on the way home is it?

I've never once heard that story embellished with 'threatened to shoot'. The guy was shot because some eejit didn't know the difference between a Scots accent and an Irish accent, nor did they know the difference between a chair leg and a shot gun, and he was killed as a result by two armed coppers who came up behind him.

 

[purdeydog]

Yup not true
You can take your gun out for a walk if you really feel the need but there is no reason to give a valid reason if the gun is lawfully owned.

No true. You can't take your rifle to a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Having an FAC does not of its self provide lawful authority for having the firearm/ammo in a public place. There is case law around it, just double checked my law books in my law office. Test it in tescos my friend, let me know how you get on. Call me from custody, weekend rates are double. It is for YOU the defendant to show you have lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

 

[VSS]

No true. You can't take your rifle to a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Having an FAC does not of its self provide lawful authority for having the firearm/ammo in a public place. There is case law around it, just double checked my law books in my law office. Test it in tescos my friend, let me know how you get on. Call me from custody, weekend rates are double.

Ah, but you can take your rifle into Tescos. Or into the bank (as I have done) or into a service station (as I'm sure many on here have done). None of those are, in themselves, a crime.
But you're right in so far as "good reason or lawful excuse" is required. In my case, I was walking into town to take my rifle to an rfd, and had to also go the the bank. So I did. No issues. Likewise, on a journey with firearms, in some areas it may be safer to take rifle into a service station if stopping for a meal, than leave it in the car.

 

[purdeydog]

Ah, but you can take your rifle into Tescos. Or into the bank (as I have done) or into a service station (as I'm sure many on here have done). None of those are, in themselves, a crime.
But you're right in so far as "good reason or lawful excuse" is required. In my case, I was walking into town to take my rifle to an rfd, and had to also go the the bank. So I did. No issues. Likewise, on a journey with firearms, in some areas it may be safer to take rifle into a service station if stopping for a meal, than leave it in the car.

We can go what if and but this and but that all day long. If you've been shooting and stop to get petrol and can't secure your rifle, then yes maybe you have a reasonable excuse, as the OP clearly does. Its for YOU to prove it, not the copper speaking to you. Its up to a magistrate or judge to decide it your behaviour is reasonable (assuming your in lawful possession) as its a triable either way offence. I myself don't 7 years in jail and/or a fine if my excuse isn't reasonable my friend.

 

[VSS]

We can go what if and but this and but that all day long. If you've been shooting and stop to get petrol and can't secure your rifle, then yes maybe you have a reasonable excuse, as the OP clearly does. Its for YOU to prove it, not the copper speaking to you. Its up to a magistrate or judge to decide it your behaviour is reasonable (assuming your in lawful possession) as its a triable either way offence. I myself don't 7 years in jail and/or a fine if my excuse isn't reasonable my friend.

Now I come to think of it, isn't there a strange anomaly whereby the "good reason or lawful excuse" applies to having a  loaded firearm in a public place, or a shotgun whether loaded or not?
I forget the exact wording, but if that is the case then @Rake Aboot is perfectly correct: you could, if you wished, simply take your (unloaded) rifle out for a walk.

 

[Rake Aboot]

You can. You need an excuse if you also have ammunition for that firearm at the same time.

No ammo no excuse required

I’ll edit to add I’m sure this was not the case in my youth when no reason or excuse was required whether you had ammo or not

 

[zambezi]

You need an excuse if you also have ammunition for that firearm

Perhaps this section of the 1968 Firearms Act is what you are remembering?

Firearms Act 1968

An Act to consolidate the Firearms Acts 1937 and 1965, the Air Guns and Shot Guns, etc. , Act 1962, Part V of the Criminal Justice Act 1967 and certain enactments amending the Firearms Act 1937.

www.legislation.gov.uk

 

[Floralys]

As mentioned above taxi is a good option, tho personally I would probably get a gun case that would look like something for a musical equipment. There are several not expensive options on eBay, and I got one of those as before I used to take a taxi with my air rifle to the range and sometimes taxi drivers would ask what I got in my gunslip, and would not believe my words that’s it’s just a fishing rod. Tho I did ask them to open car booth so could put it there.

 

[Dalua]

No true. You can't take your rifle to a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Having an FAC does not of its self provide lawful authority for having the firearm/ammo in a public place. There is case law around it, just double checked my law books in my law office. Test it in tescos my friend, let me know how you get on. Call me from custody, weekend rates are double. It is for YOU the defendant to show you have lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

Interesting. What's the case?

 

[Cris]

My Disco broke down on the way home one evening in the winter. A very cold night and I was waiting 5 hours for the RAC on a remote lane miles form home or anywhere for that matter. I had rifle full stalking, extraction kit and a Muntjac carcus. When the RAC decided to turn up there was little they could do about the exploded gear box and towing is now not an option unless its to get you out of danger. He was a young lad and we just loaded everything in his van and off we went to drop me home. He was really interested in what I had been doing and not phased at all about the rifle and dead stuff.
Took the RAC two more days to get my Disco recoverd home where its been for a year and a half now. Still its on its way from my ownership soon for someone esle to fix the box and anything else thats wrong with it.

Only time I have had contact with the police, was when I and a mate were parked in a field the otherside of a locked gate to which we had the key, when an off duty copper stopped and asked what we were doing. Insisted on calling the farmer to check all was well. Dont blame him and was no bother.

 

[Bowland blades]

People please .... Series landrovers where never built with the brief of not breaking down Landrovers where built to be easy to bodge up by the driver with very basic tools and get you home! They where very good for that ( unlike many over priced modern 4x4s that even the garages struggle with the fixing bit

 

[Dalua]

We can go what if and but this and but that all day long. If you've been shooting and stop to get petrol and can't secure your rifle, then yes maybe you have a reasonable excuse, as the OP clearly does. Its for YOU to prove it, not the copper speaking to you. Its up to a magistrate or judge to decide it your behaviour is reasonable (assuming your in lawful possession) as its a triable either way offence. I myself don't 7 years in jail and/or a fine if my excuse isn't reasonable my friend.

I'm still interested to know what the case was.

If you're rifle's locked in your car in a public place I would have thought it is just as much in a public place as if it's in a slip on your shoulder in a public place?

 

[Rake Aboot]

I just think people overthink things that aren’t really an issue
To be honest I e stopped putting the rimfire in a slip now and just sit it on the front seat next to me so I can keep the thermal charging
I’m not really bothered if my neighbours see it , half the town knows I shoot and I’m not doing anything wrong so,,

 

[Demetrius]

I would have got the vehicle towed home, and then I would have fixed it.......

D

 

[Puds]

My truck broke down on the way back from shooting the morning flight a few years ago, back when there were still a few Covid restrictions in place.
The recovery bloke took my truck and I had to follow in a taxi, shotgun propped up in the footwell next to me. Nobody batted an eyelid.

 

[tackb]

People please .... Series landrovers where never built with the brief of not breaking down Landrovers where built to be easy to bodge up by the driver with very basic tools and get you home! They where very good for that ( unlike many over priced modern 4x4s that even the garages struggle with the fixing bit

the modern over priced 4x4's you refer to also have the JLR branding and still frequent the bottom of reliability surveys as they have done for over three decades !

 

[Stalker62]

the modern over priced 4x4's you refer to also have the JLR branding and still frequent the bottom of reliability surveys as they have done for over three decades !

The Met Police bought a load of new Landrovers for their Specialist Firearms Teams.

They have got rid of all of them, and gone back to using Volvo.

 

[tackb]

The Met Police bought a load of new Landrovers for their Specialist Firearms Teams.

They have got rid of all of them, and gone back to using Volvo.

it's like nobody believes three decades of independant reliability surveys