Airgun attack blamed for fatal crash

[springboy]

Sorry if this has been covered on the BBs already i've been away so havent looked at the BBS for a little while.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstor...9520-20265560/

[Rob M]

"Essex Police said: "People say cars were hit with stones, pellets and branches on the A127 between Basildon and the M25."

So, if people were throwing stones and branches/bits of wood at vehicles as well, why did the * Mirror headline with "Airgun attack blamed..."?

The anti-airgun bias in the media in this country is just sickening!

[springboy]

Seems the papers are lying again just to sell more papers,this is the BBC's take on it.Which is probably the truth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/7160400.stm

[Alegazmoz]

Seems the papers are lying again just to sell more papers ..........

........ Mirror, isn't that the job Piers 'the liar' Morgan got the chop from? .... appears nothing's changed.

[Rob M]

I sent this yesterday to three different people at the Mirror, no replies yet:
------------------------------------------------------------
As a law-abiding and responsible airgun shooter I want to let you know how angry and disappointed I am about the story on your website "Airgun attack blamed for fatal crash". Reading through the article, you say that "Essex Police said: "People say cars were hit with stones, pellets and branches on the A127 between Basildon and the M25." so why focus on the airgun with the headline? It's obvious that some sick idiots are going around deliberately trying to cause an accident, and while someone with no expertise has said that an airgun is being used, there is no confirmation of this yet.

I know from personal experience, I have done experiments in my own garage with an old car windscreen and a side window, and I can tell you that there are very few airguns capable of breaking a car window, there are fewer still capable of damaging a windscreen, the soft lead pellets just flatten on the glass.

I also know from personal experience that people with no expertise often blame airguns for incidents that are nothing to do with them at all, where I live people were finding small circular holes in windows and blaming an airgun nutcase for them, eventually though, it turned out to be a thug with a catapult, not an airgun at all. The ball-bearings he was launching with his catapult had just enough energy to punch a small hole in the window, but did not go right through, but bounced off to be lost outside. The result was that people with no expertise were blaming airgun shooters for attacks that were nothing to do with them.

I understand that airguns are sometimes used by thugs and yobs (and I want them punished to the fullest extent of our already very strict airgun laws too), but I'm begging you to hold off on sensationalist headlines like the one above until the facts are confirmed. Airgun shooters and shooters in general are among the most responsible and law-abiding members of society, we don't deserve the enmity that headlines like this will inspire.

The last years' statistics that I could get from the Home Office showed that in a year, less than 0.2% of the UK's airguns will be used illegally, and most of that illegal use will be people shooting where they don't have permission, a small fraction will be vandalism, and an even smaller fraction will be airguns being misused as weapons. Airguns do not deserve their portrayal as the 'thug's weapon of choice' (far more people are attacked with golf clubs every year than with airguns, more people are attacked with cricket bats, more people are attacked with baseball bats too) and airgun shooters really do not deserve to be tagged as thugs, for the most part we are just sportsmen and hobbyists, Air Rifle Shooting and Air Pistol Shooting are sports at the Olympic and the commonwealth games!

Please try not to portray all airgunners as thugs and violent people, the vast majority of us just don't deserve it, we also don't deserve the censure and bad feeling that headlines like the above generate for us either! We raise lots of money for charity, airgunners across the UK raised thousands for "Ellie-May's appeal" and parcels for soldiers abroad, amongst many others, but we never get the positive press we deserve.

Thanks for your time,

Rob Morton
Derby
UK

[Abes]

Fair play to you mate - Well said

[smithers85]

Spot on Rob. Good on you mate

[blackscale]

It just annoys me so much when i hear all this cr@p!!

The goverment is on a crusade to score points!, and they have their trusty sidekicks ...the press with them!!

Reporters and traffic wardens...Luvvly!!

[Eagleman]

Very good letter Rob. Please let us know if you receive a reply.

[springboy]

Nice one Rod well said