The use by BASC, of the word ‘betrayal’ to describe a Home Office decision to support proposals for a mandatory GP report as part of every shotgun or firearms licence granted, hints at a certain naivety on the part of the UK’s biggest shooting body, because the advantages both political and financial of just such a move were always going to be too good to miss. In a single leap, the Government will be handing GPs a nice little earner in the form of a fixed charge for preparation of the report. This brings the bonus of earning the Government brownie points with a group with whom it always pays to remain onside, whilst allowing it to demonstrate that it remains ever vigilant in its aim to ensure that we are all kept safe. Ooh.
This is, of course, a rather dismal counterweight to the knife driven carnage on the nation’s street, but it is reasonable to assume that the Government has made the calculation that in terms of political capital, the shooting community will put up with any amount of shit rather than endure a Corbyn led administration.
Perhaps the worst aspect of this is not that we will have to pay more for our pleasure; we all have to do that in one form or another. No, the thing that rankles is that this charge will not bring with it any improvement to the service nor indeed any requirement to respond to a timetable. Some shooters will find the whole process seamless, whilst others will have to tolerate the sloppy and occasionally downright snotty service which has become part of the nationwide GP lottery.