BACK
TO MENU
SPORTING SHOOTER - JUNE 2005
So you thought that
NuLab was going to be ‘Shooter Friendly’? Did not all those
junior ministers from DEFRA (the true ‘bottom feeders’ in
the political pond and you can read that any way you want) tell you
so? And you believed them? Then more fool you. Now you find that you
can no longer cull pigeons, magpies, or crows unless you can demonstrate
that you have tried all other ‘non lethal methods of control’
and found them wanting. This order was slipped in without consultation
or discussion and is thought to be the ‘baby’ of the egregious
Ben Bradshaw. You will remember him. He is the one who, in the run-up
to the Hunting Bill professed undying love and support for Shooting.
Now at a stroke of a DEFRA pen he was turned the sport of the many dedicated
pigeon shooting readers of Sporting Shooter into an illegal act. Of
course (to the best of my knowledge and belief) DEFRA has made no suggestions
as to what the ‘non lethal methods’ of controlling these
pests might be. This is because the short answer is that there ain’t
none. This order will just make it much more difficult for responsible
shooting people to operate proper species control. It is a totally impractical
piece of legal ‘gilding’ bred by ignorance out of malice
and is part of the ongoing war which is being pursued by this government
against the rural minority. It will undoubtedly lay many shooting people
open to the threat of malicious prosecution. As the Countryside Alliance
has said – ‘there is no other practical solution to a national
pest problem other than culling’. But the fact is, now, that the
onus will be on you (the Shooter) to prove, in court, that you were
forced to resort to culling. In other words you are all presumed guilty
until proven innocent. The only answer to all these problems, that I
can see, is to cull this ghastly government (by appropriate non-lethal
means, of course). You all have votes and you must all use them in the
most effective and practicable way at the coming election. There are
thought to be some 50 NuLab seats, where a determined effort by country
people could tip the incumbent out on his/her backside. A caution here
– make sure that whoever you vote for is sound on country sports,
whichever party they belong to. As my Sergeant used to say – ‘assumption
is the mother of fuck-up’. You can no longer assume, with any
degree of safety that Conservatives are on the side of righteousness
and you certainly cannot make any such assumption with the Lib-Dems.
You must check out the candidates – preferably by approaching
them on a one to one basis and reasoning with them in a Christian spirit
– all right, you can put him down now – gently! Oh dear!
Oh dear! – Just look how you have crumpled up the lapels of his
nice suit. We must be firm, but polite, in our display of ‘People
Power’
