one voice
Raising the question about “an appropriate bag size” as a defence for shooting is premature – it misses the bigger picture. The anti-fieldsports cheerleaders talk about restricting shooting to build a modern and progressive society but, ultimately, to them it won’t matter if the bag is 500 or one, their principle is it should be none.
Responsible shooting is something we must promote. We can’t hope to go quietly about our business and hope we’ll be left alone. Much excellent work is underway by our associations but each one of us needs to consider whether we have the right mindset and commitment to support shooting. We need to engage the Great British Public with our timeless, commonsense rationale for the hugely positive impact of shooting and on our collective responsibility to uphold each other’s lawful choices, lifestyles and livelihoods. We need collectively to reject the un-british intolerance of those who seek to ban shooting.
So how can we engage more effectively with the Great British Public? Most of us are not comfortable with being vocal in defence of shooting – many of us want expert voices to do the job for us. In the internet age, our voice needs scale. Opportunities for building scale are everywhere. It is an appalling fact that the Countryside Alliance and BASC have a combined membership of 250,000 out of a total of 560,000 shotgun certificate holders who could support shooting by joining our representative associations.
The question as to who is the voice of shooting and fieldsports needs to be addressed. I am a member of the Countryside Alliance and the GWCT but not BASC. Probably many shooters, like me, sense confusion and an overlapping agenda. Wouldn’t it be better if there were one organisation to drive a membership recruiting campaign and represent our collective voice with the public stakeholders?
We should promote shooting with confidence. More people than we think support shooting. I wrote to my MP, a Lib Dem, in relation to the attempted grouse-shooting ban. I received an encouraging and surprising response. She wrote: “The Liberal Democrats do not support a ban on Grouse Shooting. As liberals, I and the rest of my party support the rights of individuals to pursue their hobbies without interference from Government.” At least two mainstream parties do not support banning shooting and want to uphold our rights to shoot.
Voltaire, a great admirer of the British, wrote: “those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”. Let’s build a collective voice of half a million shooters and why not think beyond to a collective million voices, by connecting fishermen and farmers? If the “Game to Eat” and British Game Alliance are successful, 500 bag days may not be sufficient to meet demand. Let’s be confident and outward looking.
Simon Scott, by email