The World Forum on The Future of Sport Shooting Activities

WFSA News and Information



September 2006

September 28, 2006

Economic benefits of shooting in the UK

A firm of economic consultants has produced a report examining the economic value of game shooting in the United Kingdom today. Almost half a million people are said to be participants, and the monetary value is £1.5bn, with approximately 70,000 jobs being generated by the activities.

The pursuits of shooters involve complex sets of purchasing habits, covering transport to venues, clothing, specialized sporting gear, and patronage of local businesses providing food and accommodation. In addition, some £250m is also spent on the management of wildlife and habitat.

Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance Simon Hart is quoted as saying, "This is an industry that employs more people than the steel industry."

BBC News



September 25, 2006

Swiss women's magazine pushes for gun restrictions

Agence France Presse has published an article describing a push by the Swiss women's magazine Annabelle to impose further restrictions on gun ownership in Switzerland. With a petition that gathered over seventeen thousand signatures, the call is for a total ban on army-issue firearms in the home, as well as a gun register. Full-page advertisements in favour of the gun prohibitions are being placed in newspapers.

Following the EU's Schengen Accord, calling for minimum standards on firearms purchase and ownership, the Swiss parliament has again been debating the issues. The effectiveness of the EU proposals is being widely called into question.

With Switzerland's long history of having a militia standing at all times ready to defend it, there are roughly half a million arms accordingly held domestically by militiamen past and present. The AFP report refers to the number of gun-related suicides and gun-related domestic murders in Switzerland, with the usual and unfounded implication that legislation directed against guns will automatically reduce the number of deaths.



September 20, 2006

US poll shows increased support for hunting

Responsive Management is an opinion-polling group specializing in outdoor resource issues. It has just completed a survey which shows increased support among those of eighteen years and older in the United States for hunting and fishing activities.

"We have been seeing public support for hunting increase at state levels, but this is the first nationwide study where we could verify that public support has increased over the past decade. In 1995, 73 percent of Americans approved of hunting. In 2006, 78 percent approved," said Mark Damian Duda, executive director of Responsive Management.

Duda pointed to increasing visibility around cities of quarry animals such as deer, and cited an increasing public awareness of the role of hunting in animal management.

"Without hunters, many game species would go unmanaged, unbalanced, with populations too high or too low to suit an environmentally conscious America. That was the original message of National Hunting and Fishing Day 35 years ago, and it's gratifying to see it still ringing true in modern society," said Doug Painter, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which founded the annual commemoration.

Details of the survey are available on Responsive Management



September 8, 2006

More criticism: South Africa's gun laws "unworkable"

The Democratic Alliance has again criticized the gun laws in South Africa. This most recent amendment, passed by the National Assembly on September 5th, is in fact a loosening of the laws. It has been defended by the Deputy Safety and Security Minister, Susan Shabangu, who insisted that consultation with the people has been a feature of her government and this would continue to be the case. The validity of certain licences is to be extended over a longer time frame for those using firearms professionally, such as some hunters. Such changes are relatively small adjustments.

In a statement, however, the Democratic Alliance said that the original laws were "shoddy and unworkable", and entirely beyond implementation even in the form modified by this present proposal (still to be ratified by the National Council of Provinces). In particular, she said that there are "millions" of illegal guns in circulation and none of them will be affected by the laws.

With all valid gun licences set to expire in 2009, and in the meantime no solutions in the offing to reconstruct the now-crippled lawful firearms trade in South Africa, criminals will no doubt ignore the laws and continue to do as they wish.

Business Day



September 1, 2006

Calls to hinder lawful gun ownership in UK

The number of guns lawfully owned in the Suffolk region of England is steadily rising as more people take up competitive shooting, according to an article in EADT24, the Suffolk and Essex daily online newspaper.

The region is rural, and guns have always been there in private hands, used for farming and country-based pursuits. As people familiar with firearms well know, different requirements exist for various kinds of shooting. It is usual for anyone with a licence to own firearms to be in possession of several, each with its own purpose and suitability.

However, a forty per cent rise in the number of total longarms authorized for target and pest shooting in the county of Suffolk over a total of five years has prompted a statement from the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA):

"It's totally possible every single rifle has been carefully justified. But guns can end up being used illegally. Our concern is not that they are going to be used in gun crime in the sense of muggings in the street, but rather more likely seeing an increase in fatalities in domestic violence as mostly men obtain guns.

"Guns are meant to be locked in a cabinet but there are plenty of stories of police going to a home and finding the gun unlocked and out. Simply because you have a safe doesn't mean you're actually storing it and they can potentially be stolen and find their way on the illegal market."

Referring to the Canadian gun registry (now in the process of being dismantled because of its ineffectiveness), the spokesman for IANSA has called for a national register bearing personal information about all legitimate gun owners.

Measures far more restrictive than this, the total ban on ownership of handguns throughout the UK, have had no beneficial effects in checking crime overall, or on the illegal possession and use of handguns. The present calls for more restrictions have come with no evidence that the steps recommended, including so-called safe storage laws, will have effect in lowering murder or suicide rates.

EADT


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