Members will be interested to see the following condensed version of the presentation given by Prof A Luminati and organised through BSSC. David Penn, Tony Cattermole and myself attended. This was a six hour event and there are many slides. However it is worth dedicating time to go through it. Prof Luminati is very effective and the whole is compelling. The end result is whether the firearms community can fund a campaign to change public conception and whether this would be effective. We will keep you posted.

Members should read the following message from the Home Office and pass along to Club secretaries and officers. HBSA in co-ordination with BSSC is pursuing the issue of renewal or application “not on line” as well as renewal reminders . We will report when we have further news.

SHOOTING CLUB AUTHORITY ONLINE APPLICATIONS Following the successful pilot project for online shooting clubs, we are now only accepting applications made via the web portal, at the link below, from Monday 11 June. This applies to all clubs (new and existing customers) in England and Wales. Applications will only be accepted by the Home Office, and should no longer be sent to the police directly. Once your application has been submitted, we will review it to determine if it is valid and, if so, pass it to the relevant police force, who will then make necessary enquiries before sending the application to us for consideration. If you do not provide sufficient information and supporting evidence, your application is likely to be rejected as invalid and will need to be resubmitted. Before applying you must ensure that you fulfil the criteria as set out in the Home Office Clubs’ Criteria leaflet. Renewals presently cost £84 and are valid for 6 years. You should apply to renew your approval at least 3 months before it’s due to expire. You can apply here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-or-manage-a-section-5-shooting-club-or-museum-licence For information about the ways in which the Home Office may use your personal information, including the purposes for which we use it, the legal basis, and who we share your information with can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/personal-information-charter https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/drugs-and-firearms-licensing-privacy-information-notices If you have any questions you can reach us at Firearms enquiries Email public.enquiries@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Or you can contact the Home Office by telephone on: 020 7035 4848

It is with great sadness that we report the passing away of The Lord Cottesloe, our Patron since our founding in 1973. We have sent our condolences to his son.His obituary from the Daily Telegraph of 4th June and Times of 30th May can be seen here….. Derek Stimpson https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2018/06/03/commander-john-fremantle5th-baron-cottesloe-survivor-yangtze/ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimes-uk/obituary.aspx?n=john-fremantle&pid=189136698

Attached is David Penn’s update for May.

Our annual HBSA Sporting Rifle day will take place on Saturday the 9th June at the usual venue, BSRC ranges Bisley. Shooting is moving target, Running Deer at 100m (full bore 8mm limit), Running Boar at 50m (.22RF) and also static targets at 100 yds. Open sights or telescopes. Larger calibres and Rook Rifles may be allowed at RCO’s discretion on static or moving target as Imperial Historics practice. Bring plenty of ammunition as on moving target with electronic scoring we can get through a lot of shooting.

Good Morning All.

I’ve just finished cleaning four rifles shot this morning in the HBSA annual Fixed Bayonet/No Bayonet shoot. Aside from the tremendous fun and exhilaration of it (two shot, standing followed by two shots kneeling followed by two shots prone all in 45 seconds for magazine rifles, 60 seconds for single shot rifles), the range of rifles used was staggering – Snider, sporting and military Martinis, Mauser (71, 96 and 98’s), Arisaka, Lebel, MAS36 as well as Enfields (long and short), Springfield and P14/17’s. The spread was better than many museums’ displays! It struck me that the effect of a bayonet fixed to the end of a rifle made a tremendous difference to the feel and balance of the rifle and to the placement of the shot. This is something I suspect very few of us have considered in shooting and demonstrates the need for HBSA Bayonet shoots to give us a chance to view our rifles in the context for which they were designed. For no good reason, I’ve not shot this event for a couple of years, but I’ll make sure that I do so next year. I’d encourage others to give it a try as well – it is so very different from the normal style of target shooting. A splendid morning well run by David Carroll and Bruce Ellis.

Members may be interested to see the Power Point presentation, the text that I gave together with the slides, and the BSSC summary of the meeting We are now looking forward to a meeting with NABIS to discuss the results. Derek Stimpson

Serious Violence Strategy document: