Shooters are giving up
- Thread starter Benelli m2
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On the bright side, it may be that shooting tastes are evolving as I have noticed the newer and more lively target disciplines like PRS, CSR and practical shotgun are bringing in decent numbers of younger shooters at Bisley these days and the gear that these young people use is not cheap, with lots of top end actioned modern custom rifles like Impacts and Barnards on display topped off with premium scopes like Vortex Razors, Nightforce ATACRs etc. Likewise the prices for second hand high quality "modernish classic" precision rifles like Accuracy International AW, AIAEs, AXMCs etc. are holding up well, as I have noticed when they become available at vendors like the Devizes Gunsmith for north of £10,000 or so they get snapped up. Even more surprisingly, the prices for authentic heavy barrel 7.62 Lee Enfields like Envoys, L39A1s, L42A1s, Enforcers etc. are also still holding up quite well so someone must be keen to own them.
Nickb
Well-Known Member
But true , the more people that give up means more opportunities for others , every cloud has a silver lining.
Why in exile, the socialist utopia they strive for will be here
There's still a healthy uptake of youngsters coming into the sport that more than account's for the oldies giving up.
Even with the oldies, they are still spending the grey pounds. After working all their lives some have a fair bit of disposable income for toys and the sport. You can't take it with you, so may as well buy a toy that makes you happy, instead of your relations ****ing it up the wall for you.
The sale of top end guns is still buoyant along with scopes and thermal night vision. The bottom may have fallen out of the market for for sub £300 guns, which in some cases would be more cost effective to weigh them in than pay for advertising costs.
Churchills Clay ground was heaving between Christmas and new year with both experienced shots, plus youngsters having lessons. Clay shooting is not a cheap hobby these day's, but there was no shortage of participants. When I was involved with a rifle club, we had a waiting list of probation members wanting to join, with the wait being 9 month's, and the drop out rate was minimal.
My tickets are up for renewal later this year, which I'll be re-applying for at the young age of 70, and I intend to keep going for as long as I can, with a hobby / life style I've been involved with from the age of 12.
The government can move the goal post's as much as they like, but I'm not quitting.
Hot off the press... our authoritarian leader has agreed to have UK boots on the ground in Ukraine, so if all his comrades that voted him in would like to form a que for firearms training that would be great. They may / may not return, and wish to take up the sport
Even with the oldies, they are still spending the grey pounds. After working all their lives some have a fair bit of disposable income for toys and the sport. You can't take it with you, so may as well buy a toy that makes you happy, instead of your relations ****ing it up the wall for you.
The sale of top end guns is still buoyant along with scopes and thermal night vision. The bottom may have fallen out of the market for for sub £300 guns, which in some cases would be more cost effective to weigh them in than pay for advertising costs.
Churchills Clay ground was heaving between Christmas and new year with both experienced shots, plus youngsters having lessons. Clay shooting is not a cheap hobby these day's, but there was no shortage of participants. When I was involved with a rifle club, we had a waiting list of probation members wanting to join, with the wait being 9 month's, and the drop out rate was minimal.
My tickets are up for renewal later this year, which I'll be re-applying for at the young age of 70, and I intend to keep going for as long as I can, with a hobby / life style I've been involved with from the age of 12.
The government can move the goal post's as much as they like, but I'm not quitting.
Hot off the press... our authoritarian leader has agreed to have UK boots on the ground in Ukraine, so if all his comrades that voted him in would like to form a que for firearms training that would be great. They may / may not return, and wish to take up the sport
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He is 100 % right
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
All very sad, but true I fear... usually when under attack, you circle the wagons to form some defence, but that doesn't seem to be happening with all the different countryside and shooting organisations... they all muddle through, doing their own thing... indeed, you could almost think there is a Trojan wagon trundling along...
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all...
Nothing ever happens, nothing happens at all...
BenBhoy
Well-Known Member
Government responded
This response was given on 6 January 2026
The Government has committed to a public consultation on strengthening licensing controls on shotguns. We will consider all views submitted during the consultation before deciding on further action.
The Government recognises that shotguns and firearms are used for a range of legitimate purposes, such as target shooting and hunting, and the vast majority are used safely and responsibly. We also recognise that shooting contributes to the rural economy.
The Government is, however, mindful that legally held shotguns have been used in a number of homicides and other incidents in recent years including the fatal shootings in Keyham, Plymouth, in August 2021. It is for this reason that we committed to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns, to bring them more into line with controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We announced this on 13 February 2025 when we published the Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation which had been run by the previous Government.
Recommendations relating to strengthening shotgun controls had been made to the Government by the Coroner in his preventing future deaths report issued in May 2023 and followed the inquest into the deaths of those who were shot and killed in Plymouth in August 2021. Similar recommendations on shotgun controls were also made in the report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following its investigation into the Plymouth shootings, and by the Scottish Affairs Committee in its report following a fatal shooting with a shotgun in Skye in August 2022.
We intend to publish the consultation shortly. No decisions have yet been made on whether and what changes might be necessary. We will consider carefully the views put forward during the consultation once it is completed, before deciding what further action to take. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that the Government intends to bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.
Public safety is our priority, and our focus on shotguns and other firearms sits alongside the Government’s aim to halve knife crime in the next decade, which forms a part of the Government’s Safer Street Mission. We are driving an ambitious programme of work focusing on prevention and enforcement, as well as strengthening knife legislation. This includes banning weapons that have no place on our streets, targeting irresponsible sellers, giving the police more powers to deal with those supplying and owning weapons for violent purposes, intervening earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime, and bringing together experts through the Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce and the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime.
Home Office
This response was given on 6 January 2026
The Government has committed to a public consultation on strengthening licensing controls on shotguns. We will consider all views submitted during the consultation before deciding on further action.
The Government recognises that shotguns and firearms are used for a range of legitimate purposes, such as target shooting and hunting, and the vast majority are used safely and responsibly. We also recognise that shooting contributes to the rural economy.
The Government is, however, mindful that legally held shotguns have been used in a number of homicides and other incidents in recent years including the fatal shootings in Keyham, Plymouth, in August 2021. It is for this reason that we committed to having a public consultation on strengthening the licensing controls on shotguns, to bring them more into line with controls on other firearms in the interests of public safety. We announced this on 13 February 2025 when we published the Government response to the 2023 firearms licensing consultation which had been run by the previous Government.
Recommendations relating to strengthening shotgun controls had been made to the Government by the Coroner in his preventing future deaths report issued in May 2023 and followed the inquest into the deaths of those who were shot and killed in Plymouth in August 2021. Similar recommendations on shotgun controls were also made in the report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following its investigation into the Plymouth shootings, and by the Scottish Affairs Committee in its report following a fatal shooting with a shotgun in Skye in August 2022.
We intend to publish the consultation shortly. No decisions have yet been made on whether and what changes might be necessary. We will consider carefully the views put forward during the consultation once it is completed, before deciding what further action to take. We will also provide an impact assessment in relation to any changes that the Government intends to bring forward after the consultation, in the normal way.
Public safety is our priority, and our focus on shotguns and other firearms sits alongside the Government’s aim to halve knife crime in the next decade, which forms a part of the Government’s Safer Street Mission. We are driving an ambitious programme of work focusing on prevention and enforcement, as well as strengthening knife legislation. This includes banning weapons that have no place on our streets, targeting irresponsible sellers, giving the police more powers to deal with those supplying and owning weapons for violent purposes, intervening earlier to stop young people being drawn into crime, and bringing together experts through the Knife-Enabled Robbery Taskforce and the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime.
Home Office
So basically we don’t give a monkeys about the petition….. whodve thought
I don’t agree. My fishing costs me a fraction of what shooting costs because I don’t have my own land. 100 sporting clays is north of £60 all in and a stalk north of £120. That’s a year of fishing costs for me. I’m lucky enough to do pest control on local farms so if that was it then you’d be right - comparable, but I’d lose my good reason for my two deer rifles, unless for targets only. Shooting is not a cheap sport but I’ll keep going for as long as I can, but I doubt I’ll ever buy a new gun again. What I have will last me but I can see me selling or giving away as the noose tightens.
Keyham, Plymouth was a failing by the police and firearms licensing they had opportunity to stop the tragic event but failed to do so. Yet we as gun owners are always the ones they want to make responsible for their failings.
www.bbc.co.uk
The Plymouth Shootings
On 12 August 2021, Jake Davison shot and killed five people before turning the gun on himself. How did a seemingly normal young man turn into one of Britain’s most lethal killers?
www.bbc.co.uk
Funny isn’t it how we always carry the canKeyham, Plymouth was a failing by the police and firearms licensing they had opportunity to stop the tragic event but failed to do so. Yet we as gun owners are always the ones they want to make responsible for their failings.
The Plymouth Shootings
On 12 August 2021, Jake Davison shot and killed five people before turning the gun on himself. How did a seemingly normal young man turn into one of Britain’s most lethal killers?
At the heart of this is the inability of the Firearms units to administer and police the process effectively. This should be no more complicated than the Passport office but instead it’s so poorly staffed and run, idiots are allowed access to firearms resulting in incidents like Plymouth and others. They should be mobilising the shooting community not treading us underfoot. Too much anti ideology allowed in the hands of policy makers.
Bo Diddley
Well-Known Member
Shooting orgs should be all over this on TV and social media... we already know this, the general public need to have the info presented to them in a format that would grab their attention... probably some TikTokKeyham, Plymouth was a failing by the police and firearms licensing they had opportunity to stop the tragic event but failed to do so. Yet we as gun owners are always the ones they want to make responsible for their failings.
The Plymouth Shootings
On 12 August 2021, Jake Davison shot and killed five people before turning the gun on himself. How did a seemingly normal young man turn into one of Britain’s most lethal killers?
Essexsussex
Well-Known Member
I think the argument that licensing is prohibitively expensive and killing shooting is a disingenuous argument.
It is no doubt an irritation that prices have gone up, and may not be a justified price rise, but the amount of people on here desperate to throw money at shooting through changing kit / optics / custom knives all the time, having a second vehicle for hobby shooting, rebarrel or custom made guns, paid stalks etc makes me think it isn’t going to be licensing cost that kills it. And as others have said, you can door knock for permission, you can buy a very good rifle for £200 sometimes with a scope, use a mora, you can stick a carcass in the boot if you have to. Etc.
Delays in issuing certificates and awkward rules certainly could kill shooting, and it will be very surprising for shotgun only owners if the rules change to treat them the same.
It is no doubt an irritation that prices have gone up, and may not be a justified price rise, but the amount of people on here desperate to throw money at shooting through changing kit / optics / custom knives all the time, having a second vehicle for hobby shooting, rebarrel or custom made guns, paid stalks etc makes me think it isn’t going to be licensing cost that kills it. And as others have said, you can door knock for permission, you can buy a very good rifle for £200 sometimes with a scope, use a mora, you can stick a carcass in the boot if you have to. Etc.
Delays in issuing certificates and awkward rules certainly could kill shooting, and it will be very surprising for shotgun only owners if the rules change to treat them the same.
The demographic of the active membership of this site tends towards post-middleage through to oap, so it's inevitable that there'll be more stories floating around about folk giving up.
(Fact of life, the older you get the more funerals you go to, but it doesn't mean the human race is dying out!)
Younger folk getting into shooting are fairly active on other social media platforms. We have a healthy smattering of younger members on here, but they're not regular posters. Maybe we need to be taking a self-critical look at attitudes on this site to see where we're perhaps not being as welcoming and inclusive towards young people as we should be?
(Fact of life, the older you get the more funerals you go to, but it doesn't mean the human race is dying out!)
Younger folk getting into shooting are fairly active on other social media platforms. We have a healthy smattering of younger members on here, but they're not regular posters. Maybe we need to be taking a self-critical look at attitudes on this site to see where we're perhaps not being as welcoming and inclusive towards young people as we should be?
I agree, but we know that, imagine coming into the sport that you may not be sure of
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