Member news

[Ovenpaa]

The NRA is not exclusive in it's inability to do right in the eyes of the UK shooters. The bigger problem as I see it is a total lack of unity between the organisations, NRA, NSRA, BASC, CPSA and whoever else is out there right now. I have to admit at this point that my knowledge of the top level structure and relationship of these national organisations is sketchy at best and I do wonder how much they all work together. The UK NRA is not the USA NRA, we as shooters are an absolute and often unwanted minority and personally I think we should be grateful for what we get.

If your preference is BASC, join it, support it, use it and assist it, same goes for the NRA and CPSA. Personally I find them all a bit elitist in some respects however they all offer a service for members.

I am an NRA member, I will continue to be an NRA member and to this day I get a huge buzz out of going to the NSC be it for practice or competitions. For me it is a range that is open six days a week and is steeped it history and tradition. I wish in many ways that I could contribute more to the NRA than just making a noise on a Friday morning and I intend to look into this further in the coming months.

For me it is a use it or loose thing as well and if we do not support our chosen organisations then they will crumble and fall by the wayside.

[dromia]

For me it is a use it or loose thing as well and if we do not support our chosen organisations then they will crumble and fall by the wayside.

I agree with you on Bisley use it or loose it but the NRA? Perhaps it should die. A thing that cannot evolve, grow, develop and find a niche and purpose for itself certianly courts extinction.

If it only listens and acts to meet the needs of its Bisley members then it is just the organisation that runs Bisley, wait a minute I thought that was the NSC. :?: :?: :?:

[Ovenpaa]

I agree with you on Bisley use it or loose it but the NRA? Perhaps it should die. A thing that cannot evolve, grow, develop and find a niche and purpose for itself certianly courts extinction.

If it only listens and acts to meet the needs of its Bisley members then it is just the organisation that runs Bisley, wait a minute I thought that was the NSC. :?: :?: :?:

So what we need is a figurehead organisation that looks after the needs of UK shooters in an unbiased and professional manner, an organisation that can tie the 'national organisations' together and offer a level of cohesion.

The problem has to be establish such an organisation, would it be formed with a mix of people from existing organisations but who would start it, who would run it, who would fund it? Should it be established at government level and would they even want such a thing to exist?

I would certainly like to see regional shooting centres in place but if they were to exist who would they cater for, we have everything from 10m air rifle to 1200 yard match rifle with a myriad of disciplines in between. Regional centres capable of supporting such a wide range of shooters and disciplines would cost many millions (Dare I say billions) of our hard earned pounds. The sad part is we as a country are investing 30mil plus for shooting at the the Olympics and the facilities will be removed afterwards so the potential good start we had will be lost. We lack the number of shooters to demand such an organisation and infrastructure so I can only assume we will have to make do with what we have. :(

[dromia]

As I referred to in earlier posts the NRA, NSRA and the CPSA got money from sport england to help enable amalgamation with the aim of setting up a truly national shooting body. Part of this was the recognition that it would be easier to support one development organisation. Consultants were employed some consultation was done and then all went quiet, we as shooters have never had an detaioled explanation about what happened or the outcome.

As a member of such organisations I would have liked chapter and verse on how the process unfolded as that would perhaps help me make decisions about who if any I would support.

I haven't met a shooter who wouldn't come behind a national movement, just look at the success of the shooters rights asociation at the time of Dunblane, Albie Fox filled the void left by the NRA and the others and the shooting community came behind him and then some, remember the marches and rallies in London.

So everyone on the ground wants a national representative body, the "national" organisations meberships is from this constituency but they cannot move towards what their membership wants.

They give no meaningful or detailed explanation as to why they cannot deliver what everyone wants so the only explanation we are left with is the assumption of vested interest.

People coming into this new really do need to undertsand the history if they want shooting to survive grow and develop, if not we will keep reninventing the wheel but never learning what to use it for.

[dromia]

A national organisation might have made a better fist of the olympics, they couldn't have made a worse one.

The olympic tragedy just goes to show how little influence the NRA has. Multiple national bodies devalue or credibilty and barganing ability as a collective sport.

Lord Elcho would be turning in grave if he could see what little influence the NRA now has on the national stage.

[Robin128]

It takes money to form a new truely representative UK shooters organisation, independent from existing shooting organisations and of course it's the wrong time to be attempting that with jobs in short supply and overtime an anachronism.

Didn't BASC try to get close to the NRA last year and fail miserably?

Perhaps an organisation like BASC should go it alone, but wonder what a costed Strategy would dictate in subs?

Of Course, like any business wishing to become bigger and venture into concentric/conglomerate diversification, there is the merger/takeover approaches. The former requires consent of all the fat cats...wouldn't mind betting the memorandum of associations etc have clauses to block such stupidity .

We have only to pick up a good gun magazine to note very experienced and open minded leaders in shooting who could start to pull together such a strategy.

We can live in hope.