Doctors signature for applications and license renewals

[Mauserbill]

Hello
Can anybody throw any light on this one.
Greater Manchester Police are now insisting on a Doctors signature on your medical records to allow firearms ownership;
A club member has tried unsuccessfully to obtain a signature for a renewal, as the Doctor refused.
GMP licensing were unhelpful and insisted they needed the doctors signature or they could not process the application.
There suggestion was that he changed Doctors !!!!. I think that Lancashire and a force in the south of England have already adopted a similar approach. This situation may have serious ramifications for the shooting community.
I was not aware of this change in the Home office guidelines to police forces.....

[Les]

It has been going on for quite a while now, and there are various threads on here about it. If the doctor doesn't want to sign, then there's very little you can do apart from find a new doctor.

[GeeRam]

This situation may have serious ramifications for the shooting community.

All part of the grand plan of Govt to remove all firearms from civilians.

[Quarters]

If the government wanted to stop all gun ownership, they'd just pass a law. There's nothing stopping them.
One picture of a CSR competition at Bislry in the Daily Mail and nobody would support us. There's no secret, long term plan to take our guns - there doesn't need to be. If any government wants our guns they will just take them.

[GeeRam]

If the government wanted to stop all gun ownership, they'd just pass a law. There's nothing stopping them.

Apart from the cost to them for the compensation......which they've underestimated 3 times now.

Its much easier for them to just make it gradually harder and harder for us to keep them with little extra cost to themselves. Keep nibbling away at it is a more effective long term option for them, without drawing attention to it at the same time.

[Quarters]

I've been shooting now for 15 years. For the whole of that time people have been saying that there is a grand plan to stop us shooting.

But in those 15 years everybody at my club has shot whenever they want, they've bought whatever they want, they've sold whatever they want. New members have freely joined and bought rifles of various calibres, black powder pistols, shotguns.

If there is a grand plan, it's not working.

[Christel]

I've been shooting now for 15 years. For the whole of that time people have been saying that there is a grand plan to stop us shooting.

But in those 15 years everybody at my club has shot whenever they want, they've bought whatever they want, they've sold whatever they want. New members have freely joined and bought rifles of various calibres, black powder pistols, shotguns.

If there is a grand plan, it's not working.

But it is working...think about it, the grand plan is perhaps not written down however it is a mentality that is being rolled out across all public sectors. Liverpool County Council is a perfect example. How they slowly get rid of shooting related activities in the area. You might not notice at first...

[Dark Skies]

I've been shooting now for 15 years. For the whole of that time people have been saying that there is a grand plan to stop us shooting.

But in those 15 years everybody at my club has shot whenever they want, they've bought whatever they want, they've sold whatever they want. New members have freely joined and bought rifles of various calibres, black powder pistols, shotguns.

If there is a grand plan, it's not working.

In the past the police hadn't hit on the wheeze of shifting responsibility onto the medical profession.
I don't think you will be able to say the same in the next fifteen years.

[BamBam]

I thought it was just a form, are you having to hand over all medical records now?

[1066]

I've been shooting now for 15 years. For the whole of that time people have been saying that there is a grand plan to stop us shooting.

But in those 15 years everybody at my club has shot whenever they want, they've bought whatever they want, they've sold whatever they want. New members have freely joined and bought rifles of various calibres, black powder pistols, shotguns.

If there is a grand plan, it's not working.

Gently, Gently catchy monkey. It's death by a thousand cuts....When I started shooting 50 odd years ago every town and many villages had at least one rifle club (and range). Locally in the South East we had half a dozen or more fullbore ranges out to 600 yards within a half hour drive. Now there's just a handful of smallbore clubs and few fullbore ranges.

The NSRA is on it's knees and hanging on by it's finger tips, there almost no shooting in schools, scouts, etc. You have airgun licences in Scotland, we now have medical hoops to jump through and so it goes on, tiny bit at a time.

Very little new blood is coming into shooting - We have gone in not many years, from special trains being laid on to take shooters from London to Bisley, with a dedicated track and station and interrupting the Wimbledon tennis final to announce the winner of the Queens Cup to where we are now - Unable/unwilling to host the shooting events at the next Commonwealth Games.