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Sportsman's Association News

June 2012 by Secretary, Mike Wells

UK Olympic Pistol Shooters allowed to practice with mock pistols

ecause of draconian restrictions on handguns in the United Kingdom, Olympic smallbore pistol shooters from the UK have been forced to conduct their training in neighboring countries, such as Belgium, Switzerland and France. Obviously, the need to travel overseas to practice their sport has been a major handicap for UK shooters who will compete with Team GB at the upcoming

London Olympics said one smallbore pistol shooter: Our goal is to win a medal for mother England, the 2012 host nation. But it is hard to compete on a world-class level when we cant even train at home. Going overseas every time we need to practice wastes precious time and money. Other Olympic shooters dont face these kind of obstacles.

(Left to right) Great Britain .22 rimre pistol competitor, Georgina Gorgs Geikie with Alan Westlake (Chairman Sportsmans Association) and Chris Webb (NRA)

Trigger Trainer
With the 2012 London Olympics soon approaching, UK Olympic ofcials have been looking at ways that Team GB pistol shooters can avoid the need to travel abroad just to practice shooting. Now, through a special act of Parliament, it appears that UK Olympic pistol shooters may nally be able to hone their marksmanship skills at home. A new law will allow qualied Olympic-level pistol shooters on Team Great Britain to import a new, non-lethal training device recently introduced in

The American-made Trigger Trainer will be used by UK athletes in preparation for the Olympics

the United States. With the aid of the American-made Trigger Trainer. UK Olympic shooters can now practice their triggerpulling skills without risking a trip to prison. The Trigger-Trainer is a plastic device with a pistol grip, and spring-loaded trigger. While this gadget is ne as a supplementary aid for trigger control, it cannot possibly replace regular and unrestricted access to local shooting facilities, and it is incapable of giving the complete shooting experience as it does not re a projectile because it lacks a barrel, magazine, ring pin, and sights. This has to be a total insult to our athletes. Georgina Geikie will be representing us as .22 rimre

pistol competitor in the Olympics, but Mick Gault was unable to qualify for quotas, so he has been ousted. Thanks a bunch Great Britain*. So it is down to Gorgs, as Georgina likes to be called, to bring home the gold we wish her well. *Great Britain is the name under which the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland competes at the Olympic Games. Great Britain was one of 14 teams to compete in the rst Games, the 1896 Summer Olympics, and has competed at every Games. Great Britain is the only team to have won at least one gold medal at every Summer Games.

.22 Pistols back in 2013?

As John Major left us with .22 pistols and Muzzle loaders in 1997, the Coalition Government is sympathetic about the .22 ban by Mr Blair and his Labour government. After much lobbying through the British Shooting Sports Council and a lot of time and effort from Alan Westlake and myself, the Government and Home affairs select committee are looking to repeal the second amendment ban, and provided there are no rearms incidents at the 2010 Olympic Games, our hope could come a reality.

Wake Up!
We are still along way off. We need your support. I am astounded that 57,000 men and women lost their sport, yet only 11,000

have signed the e-petition on our website www.sportsmansassociation.co.uk You must all know someone who has email. Club secretaries galvanize into action, it will be great for clubs in 1997 my club Kensington rie and pistol had 550 members, after the handgun ban we now have 52. That is a 90% drop in membership; it just goes to show how popular pistol shooting was.

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Phoenix meeting 2012 Sportsmans AGM

The annual Phoenix meeting and competition has been moved back a week. This year it takes place as usual at Bisley on Friday 1st of June to Sunday 3rd of June. A large selection of Guns, Clothing, Reloading and Accessories will be up for grabs, with some at bargain show prices. Make an effort and support British Shooting, come to the Phoenix. The Sportsmans Association will be there and our Annual General Meeting will be at the Bisley Shooting Ground Clubhouse, next door to William Evans Showroom. It will commence at 19:00 on Saturday 2nd June PLEASE SUPPORT THE ONLY ASSOCIATION THAT FIGHTS FOR ALL SHOOTING SPORTS

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Foxes sabotage Shot Gun Range at Woolwich

A mob of unruly foxes have caused chaos at a London 2012 shooting test event after damaging equipment at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. The foxes evaded 800 of the world's nest marksmen and security guards to wreak havoc at the temporary venue built for this summer's Olympics. They chewed through wires, knocked over microphones and soiled the event's rie range and promptly scarpered before they were caught. Organiser Peter Underhill explained that there was not a lot ofcials can do about the bushy tailed pranksters. The place is inundated with them up here, I'm sure there's more than one, he said. They lived here before we created the venue so, at night they're getting into some of our enclosures, going around and chewing things. They've chewed through some of our bre optics and they've destroyed some of our microphones as well. We're taking natural precautions to cover up our equipment, to make sure the foxes don't have them all away and don't damage them all. He added: We have to live with the foxes. We have guards here at night that go around and, if need be, shoo them away. Did he really mean shoo or shoot? Olympic champion, Richard Faulds, told BBC Sport that one of the disruptive foxes had also left a 'present' in one area of the venue. We were dropping our guns off in the armoury when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Ian, our coach, saw it full-on and he swears it was a fox. Rumour has it there was a little present left by the fox found in the indoor rie range. It adds a bit of fun to the event. Most of the shooters are very fond of them. The venue, dubbed as Teletubby Land by critics, will be dismantled after this summer's Games and moved elsewhere, raising concerns over the Olympic shooting legacy. Organisers initially chose the National Shooting Centre in Bisley, Surrey, to host London 2012 shooting events but were forced to revise the decision after the International Olympic Committee raised concerns about the number of events taking place outside the capital.

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