Dear John Spellar,

I am writing to you concerning the VCRA (Violent Crime Reduction Act)* due to come into force on the 1st of October. A part of this act states there is to be a ban on importing selling and owning RIFs (Realistic Imitation Firearms), this in itself seems to be a rather sweeping statement as it also basn someone from walking around with things that could be mistaken by the average person as a gun that could include snooker cues in bags or tennis rackets in bags... Sports such as paintball and airsoft are being thrown into this category and being persecuted out of existence due to it. What really gets to me is that this law is being imposed to try and reduce the rates of violent crime within the country which fair enough is indeed understandable and a good thing however from my point of view people who commit these violent crimes can and do source there weapons and in particular firearms from people that can smuggle them in under the radar as it were of the Government. This has and always be the case. Look at the ban on semi automatic firearms ownership in the late eighties there are shootings in and around Birmingham to say the least that involve semi and fully automatic sub machine guns and other fully automatic weapons. I thought that the ban on semi automatic firearms was supposed to stop or drastically reduce this it doesn’t seem to have worked in the past twenty or so years does it? The Government doesn’t seem to know where it stands or what to do about such things.

I write to you with a plea to voice many people’s views within the our area that are law abiding citizens that go out and play these sports and do so in a very professional and safe manner not to be persecuted by this new law. I see it my duty to write to you before others as my MP because it is your duty to voice our thoughts views and concerns in the house of commons. I hope that this message to you has not been written in vain. I look forward to a response in the future.

N.B*

Link to the act in question. - http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmbills/010/2006010.pdf


In the words of the whole air soft community 'Save our Sport'!

Yours sincerely, Mark Yates.