Scots firearms law change?

Firearms law in Scotland may be set to change. The Scottish Affairs Committee of the UK Parliament has begun an evidencegathering exercise looking at how well firearms law is working north of the border. The exercise follows a shooting on the Isle of Skye in which one person was killed and another three were harmed.

Firearms law is a ‘reserved matter’, meaning that the Scottish Parliament cannot change the law on it and that new legislation or changes to the existing law must be made at Westminster. However, in the past, the UK Parliament has given special authority to the Scottish Parliament to introduce its own restrictions; this led to the introduction of mandatory air rifle licensing in 2016.

The committee has asked for evidence on the adequacy of firearms licensing regulations in the UK, and in Scotland in particular, the extent to which they are relevant to Scotland’s particular circumstances and whether the process for obtaining a licence for firearms be changed.

With ash dieback and phytophthora ramorum cutting a swathe through the country’s trees, your shoot may well have some dead ones that need to be sorted out. A few dead trees in the right place are important for biodiversity, but dangerous trees should be dealt with now before the situation worsens. The wetter and windier weather that is on its way will only make the job harder. Get them on the deck and in the log store.

If your dog is about to start its first season, tighten up on the basics before it goes into action. Learning memory retrieves and doing clever things with dummies won’t be worth much if it won’t stop, sit and recall sharply and can’t walk to heel in an orderly fashion. For the moment, the tricky stuff can be left for older and wiser canines. If its first day is a disaster, that’s your fault for putting it in a situation for which it was not prepared.

The committee has asked for evidence on how well firearms legislation is working north of the border