I think the magazines will perhaps react once the situation becomes clearer. Until we have a statement from Easyjet about this, it's hard to know what the actual problem is/was. That is expected for the end of this week, as per an email I have received from Easyjet.
In terms of the rifles taken abroad, 2/3 of the shooters in that party were shooting Air Arms, one being an Air Arms Grand Prix Team member. Considering that English shooters are extremely highly regarded by the rest of the world in shooting, I'd expect that anything the trade could do to help with the situation they would. The best representation of their products abroad is to have English shooters shooting and winning titles with them. Indeed they do provide statements for the each passenger to state that their rifles were sold as non FAC rifles.
It's worth remembering that the FT & HFT World Championships are the biggest single discipline shooting championships in the world, with over 20 countries competing. The days of it being a shoot in a muddy field are long over. Abroad there's press and TV coverage, and although it's not national news, FT shooters have been invited to meet their country's premieres in recognition. I pretty sure the trade here and abroad wants to be a part of that