Give it 10 years Pete
As you know, up here it started as a one man campaign waged after the death of a wee boy.
When licensing comes in in Scotland it'll be ten years since I joined this site, almost exactly to within a few days. I joined after a couple of years of just lurking the board, because the campaigner (Tommy) who'd been calling for an outright ban started to gain tangible popular traction with the wider public (driven on by the tabloid media) prompting the cross spectrum political elements up here to vow on action, if elected. That was enough for me to sit up and pay attention and signalled to me that something was going to change.
From there the campaign grew arms and legs and we are where we are, we've actually had a better outcome than I'd have reckoned on back in the darkest days of developments. Although I know many on here who didn't pay attention, or weren't around, at the time, will find that hard to believe.
It's simple arithmetic, there are more cat lovers or those sympathetic to cats (and bandwagon jumping flag waving antis) than there are airgun enthusiasts (those willing to stand up and be counted). Get enough cat lovers onboard gee'ed on by the anti PR savvy machine and story hungry media ,and the political opportunists won't be far behind.
You have to start acting now. Get on to BASCs' and ask whats happening to counter this! I know many air gunners don't hold with the idea that BASC is a natural home for air gunners, but I'd point out that they did sterling work for us in Scotland, my own opinion is that we'd be far far worse off without their support and engagement with the consultation.
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It's also worth mentioning that journalists can and will read this board should the story develop, can you imagine the headline?
"Air Gunners think Cats are the problem, Cat should be licensed not us".
Think before you allow your fingers to run off at the keyboard