Posted on 12/03/2001 11:21:32 AM PST by tarawa
Pressure is on to tighten airgun laws Nov 30 2001
Evening Chronicle
Campaigning MP Stephen Hepburn will today call on the Government to bring in tighter controls for airguns.
The Jarrow MP has urged all MPs to back his plea and put pressure on the government to bring the deadly weapons under control.
Gateshead teenager, Nicola Diston, was left blind in one eye after being hit by a pellet from an airgun two weeks ago.
In response the Chronicle launched a huge campaign yesterday asking readers to sign a petition calling for stringent laws on airguns.
And today more of the region's MPs voiced their support for our campaign.
At present anyone can get hold of the guns without a licence because of a loophole in the law.
Mr Hepburn has backed the Chronicle campaign and has gone one step further by putting down an early day motion in the House of Commons calling for controls on airguns.
He said: "It's wrong that young kids can be walking around with air weapons. These weapons are killers.
"We have seen how one poor young girl has been affected for the rest of her life.
"With other MPs behind me I think there will be a great deal of pressure on the government to do something about air weapons."
After the Chronicle joined forces with Gateshead Council to lobby Home Secretary David Blunkett hundreds of readers rang in to pledge their support for the campaign.
More than 85 per cent of callers agreed that tighter controls on lethal airguns are needed.
Northumbria Police Inspector Graham Davis said: "Airguns are lethal weapons and they can kill.
"Anything that reduces the number of weapons on the street can only be a good thing.
"These weapons don't just put the lives of people using them at risk but also the public around them and the firearms officers sent to deal with them."
People who sell air weapons must have a licence, people who want to buy one can pick them up easily.
Noslrac
Gateshead teenager, Nicola Diston, was left blind in one eye after being hit by a pellet from an airgun two weeks ago.
They're not deadly. They're blinding.
To call them deadly, you must come up with at least one incident where the person shot actually died. Which I'm sure exists.
Wait till some Member of Parliament notices that young Brits drive - and kill people doing so!
We are now witnessing "post-British Britain" - a place so politically-correct that its government is even drafting a new "history" of Britain to not offend its newly-now-sizeable non-European population, a place where those substantial nonwhite minorities have now established Kosovo-like autonomous areas in major Brit cities, a place that is an island-size jail with 1 police spy camera on the street per 20 Brits nationwide average (more in urban areas), a place with no freedom of speech (bans on "hate speech"), a place with no gun rights, a place where even their cherished socialized-medicine system is in collapse to the point that its hospitals simply involuntarily kill off old patients and where a drastic nurse shortage exists due in large part to violent patients.
The days of a proud Britain are over - forever.
My son is getting one for Christmas this year. He eventually wants to learn to hunt, but he's 9 and we have no hunters in the family, so we're starting with small potatoes.
Nevermind.
That's what happens when you don't wear your safety goggles.
In response the Chronicle launched a huge campaign yesterday asking readers to sign a petition calling for stringent laws on airguns.
I'll bet someone, somewhere, has been badly injured when a bundle of Chronicle newspapers fell on his foot. I think this newspaper needs to be shut down.
If I remember correctly, some kid shot another in the side of the head and the 'another' died. Pellet gun. Cincinnati, Ohio.
There are air/pellet guns on the market that will shoot a projectile faster than a .45 automatic. A number of them will do better than 1000 fps.
You can't do that. All the politicians would die.
Hey!....Wait a minute......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.