MODERN POLICY DEVELOPMENT
38. In December 1970, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir John McKay, was formally asked to review the current law on firearms. He set up a working group consisting of chief officers of police, Scottish Office and Home Office officials. Though there were some meetings of sub groups with representatives of shooting organisations, there was no real consultation and the entire proceedings were confidential.
39. Although the study was formally authorised in December 1970, preparatory work must have been going on for at least a year prior to that because the Staff Officer to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary visited Cambridge in the autumn of 1969 seeking information about research being conducted by a senior police officer and offering to share available information. He was briefed on the progress of the research and when it became clear that the study raised doubts about the effectiveness and efficiency of the system all contact was cut off and no liaison took place. The researcher concluded that the Working Party was not interested in information which did not conform to its pre-determined results.
For those who wonder why we are, where we are, today, and for those orgs who seek to be represented at meetings with Police, I advise a quick read below.
The full reference is at;
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmchaff/95/95ap25.htm
40. The McKay report was produced in September 1972, but has never been made public. It is known, however, that the first of 70 conclusions reached in a summary of the report was that a reduction in the number of firearms in private hands was a desirable end in itself. The report contained no evidence to justify this conclusion.
41. The McKay report is also known to have recommended that shotguns be placed under the same controls as rifles and pistols so that there would be a reduction in the number of shotguns in private hands. It asserted, without supportive evidence, that this step would reduce the number of shotguns in unauthorised hands and that, in the long term would make it more difficult for criminals to obtain shotguns. Other recommendations were vaguely worded, but all seek further restrictions on firearms of every class and further powers for the police. The fact that this report was never published and never made available for debate raises serious doubts about the intentions of those involved.
42. In May 1973, the Home Office produced a consultative document (a Green Paper), "The Control of Firearms in Great Britain" (Cmnd 5297) which was a very much watered down version of the McKay report without some of the more extreme statements. The primary aim expressed in the McKay Report was not included in the Green Paper nor were other proposals which the Home Office, itself heavily involved in the McKay Working Party, must have seen as politically unacceptable even if desirable for their own purposes. The proposals set out in the Green
38. In December 1970, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir John McKay, was formally asked to review the current law on firearms. He set up a working group consisting of chief officers of police, Scottish Office and Home Office officials. Though there were some meetings of sub groups with representatives of shooting organisations, there was no real consultation and the entire proceedings were confidential.
39. Although the study was formally authorised in December 1970, preparatory work must have been going on for at least a year prior to that because the Staff Officer to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary visited Cambridge in the autumn of 1969 seeking information about research being conducted by a senior police officer and offering to share available information. He was briefed on the progress of the research and when it became clear that the study raised doubts about the effectiveness and efficiency of the system all contact was cut off and no liaison took place. The researcher concluded that the Working Party was not interested in information which did not conform to its pre-determined results.
For those who wonder why we are, where we are, today, and for those orgs who seek to be represented at meetings with Police, I advise a quick read below.
The full reference is at;
publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmchaff/95/95ap25.htm
40. The McKay report was produced in September 1972, but has never been made public. It is known, however, that the first of 70 conclusions reached in a summary of the report was that a reduction in the number of firearms in private hands was a desirable end in itself. The report contained no evidence to justify this conclusion.
41. The McKay report is also known to have recommended that shotguns be placed under the same controls as rifles and pistols so that there would be a reduction in the number of shotguns in private hands. It asserted, without supportive evidence, that this step would reduce the number of shotguns in unauthorised hands and that, in the long term would make it more difficult for criminals to obtain shotguns. Other recommendations were vaguely worded, but all seek further restrictions on firearms of every class and further powers for the police. The fact that this report was never published and never made available for debate raises serious doubts about the intentions of those involved.
42. In May 1973, the Home Office produced a consultative document (a Green Paper), "The Control of Firearms in Great Britain" (Cmnd 5297) which was a very much watered down version of the McKay report without some of the more extreme statements. The primary aim expressed in the McKay Report was not included in the Green Paper nor were other proposals which the Home Office, itself heavily involved in the McKay Working Party, must have seen as politically unacceptable even if desirable for their own purposes. The proposals set out in the Green
