A campaign led by Firearms UK Association to promote greater interdisciplinary respect and collaboration within the shooting community; with the direct aim of having shooters of different disciplines lend support to each other through mutual collaboration and proactive actions, fostering a more cohesive, unified and robust community, to the betterment of everyone involved in shooting sports and firearms ownership.
Our initial action which kick started the Unity campaign was our e-petition to HM Government, whom we respectfully requested to make the necessary changes to the Firearms Act that would allow for .22 Rimfire pistols to be owned and used under the current section 1 certification system.
Clearly; not everyone who shoots will have a direct interest in shooting .22 pistols, or any pistol whatsoever, and this recognition is part of the philosophy behind Unity; in that there is much more that we share in common as shooting sports enthusiasts and firearms owners, than what distinguishes from each – what particular firearm we use.
FAQs
Unity is what we are striving to achieve; to unite people to achieve the objectives of this campaign and to create a mutually supportive, robust shooting community for the benefit of all.
Due to the nature of the campaign, we currently foresee no end date for the wider campaign; however individual actions may have their own specific timelines and deadlines.
It is to establish the principle with both the shooting communities and the Legislature and show that there is a united will of many, many people supporting the petition for the return of .22 pistols for sporting shooting.
The timing is crucial to delivering the campaign objectives. During 2014 we had the European Elections, the Scottish Referendum and then the General Election 2015. The petition was timed to conclude prior to the General Election and give Firearms UK time to collate and present the results in time for presentation early in the new Parliament.
Firearms UK ‘Blog Posts’ related to the Unity campaign
BASC: Target pistol shooting petition
https://www.countryside-alliance.org/ca/campaigns-shooting/e-petition-on-ownership-and-use-of-22-calibre-rimfire-pistols
https://www.czrifles.co.uk/overturn-the-pistol-ban
https://www.guntradenews.com/news/petition-for-pistols
https://www.sporting-rifle.com/news/pistol-petition-crosses-the-10000-threshold
https://www.airriflereviews.co.uk/feed-categories/airgun-news/the-unity-campaign
E-petition to allow ownership & use of .22 calibre Rimfire Pistols
E-Petition For The Ownership And Use of .22LR Pistols For Sporting Purposes…
The new PACEC report
We’re winners at this sport, so why ban it?
- Shooting Times, 2nd April 2014, Page 4, Petition to legalise .22 pistols starts with a bang
- Shooting Times, 9th April 2014, Page 10, Letter of the week; Fired up over pistol petition
- Shooting Times, 23rd April 2014, Page 5, Petition on pistols hits 10k mark
- Shooting Times, 23rd April 2014, Page 11, Readers’ Letters; No support here
- Sporting Rifle, 25th April 2014, Page 72, Target News; Pistol Petition
- BASC Magazine; Shooting and Conservation, May / June 2014, Page 15, Support pistol petition
- Sporting Gun, June 2014, Page 47, Time to sign the pistol petition
- Sporting Gun, June 2014, Page 48, Promoting unity among shooters
- Shooting Times, 11th June 2014, Pages 26-27, Changing Attitudes to Firearms
- Daily Mail, 8th October 2014, Page 55, We’re winners at this sport, so why ban it?
Videos featuring Unity Campaign
The Shooting Show: March 31st 2014
Call To Action “UK Gun Owners Need You!!!
A Call to Action concerning Olympic .22 Target Pistols UK 2014
Fieldsports Channel News – Trophy Crocs Ruling
Call To Action Update 12th April
UK .22 Pistol Petition to Repel the Hand Gun Ban
English Shooting: Handgun Ban is…
Numerous organisations and clubs, alongside thousands of individuals have supported our Unity campaign including; shooting Sports organisations such as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, Scottish Association for Country Sports and organisations working to promote and improve accessibility to sport for disabled people such as Sport4all. If you wish to see a detailed list of all organisations, and clubs, etc whom have pledged or acted in support of Unity please email us.
No. Shooting Sports have been, and continue to be subject to bad press often due to being wrongly associated with tragedy and criminal activity. The Shooting Sports and associated activities are legal and carried out by law abiding, caring, safe and sensible people, and bear no resemblance to the media portrayal, misinformation, dramatisation and hype.
FAQ V.02b; last updated 20th August 2016
