The powerful UK gun lobby has been accused of mobilising tens of thousands of shooting enthusiasts to “skew” a government consultation on tightening firearms laws launched after the Plymouth mass killings in 2021.
Gun control campaigners, victims of crime involving weapons and families of people killed in shootings have expressed concern that the government will use the results of the consultation as an excuse to not make extensive changes to firearms laws despite widespread calls for fundamental reform after the Plymouth tragedy.
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and the Countryside Alliance have made it easy for members and supporters to access the consultation from its websites – and advised them on how to reply to each of the 20 yes/no questions posed.
BASC told the Guardian there had been almost 80,000 click-throughs from its site to the consultation, which ends next week, while the Countryside Alliance said “many” of its 100,000 members and supporters had taken part.
The groups are encouraging members to reject many of the proposals that anti-gun campaigners want, such as giving police extra powers to seize firearms and setting up a hotline for people with concerns about gun owners.
Chrissie Hall, a spokesperson for the Gun Control Network, said the two groups had issued a “call to action”. She said: “They are in a position to rally their vested interest individuals to attempt to persuade the Home Office – who don’t need a lot of persuading – not to do anything that might cause the shooting community expense or inconvenience.”
Hall said those taking part in the consultation should have been asked to declare whether they were shooters or not and added that the Home Office had failed to do enough to bring the consultation to the attention of the wider public.
The families of the five victims of the Plymouth gunman, Jake Davison, accused the police of giving him a “licence to kill” by allowing him to have a shotgun despite a known history of violence, and called for “radical change” to the licensing system. The senior coroner who heard the inquest of those who were killed, Ian Arrow, said Britain’s gun laws needed “root and branch” changes.
Luke Pollard, the MP for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport, said: “The gun lobby are arguing for no changes to Britain’s broken gun laws, meaning they are deliberately failing to learn the lessons from the Plymouth shooting.
“We need ordinary people who want changes to gun laws to make a stand and send in their views to the Home Office consultation. If we don’t learn the lessons of the tragedy in Keyham, we will be doomed to repeat them.”
Rhianon Bragg, who was held hostage at gunpoint by her former partner Gareth Wyn Jones, said: “Like Jake Davison, his guns were returned to him when they shouldn’t have been.
“For me, guns, shooting, are an acceptable part of rural life. I have absolutely no issue with responsible gun ownership. I used to shoot.
“I expected the shooting lobby to encourage their members to respond, recommending more lenient conditions. However, more than that, they have given the answers they’d like their members to submit – the form essentially already filled out.”
Emma Ambler, whose twin sister, Kelly Fitzgibbons, was shot dead by her partner alongside her daughters Ava, four, and Lexi, two, in 2020, said it was “really unhelpful” for organisations such as BASC to tell members how to respond.
“I have very little hope that anything will change,” she said. “I’m sure with the majority of respondents to this consultation being gun owners it will allow the government to continue to spout the nonsense that we have the toughest gun licences in the world.”
Peter Squires, a professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Brighton, said: “It is not unlike the way the NRA [National Rifle Association] operates in the USA, with a narrow and single-minded approach to swamping the ballots.
“Virtually every independent-minded expert agrees on what needs to be done and then the Home Office conducts one of these farcical consultations and allows the self-interested single-issue shooting lobby to school its members through the process of rejecting the proposals.
“The farce is complete when the Home Office takes the results of this skewed survey and cites public opposition to the necessary reforms as a reason for inaction.”
BASC has described the consultation as “the most significant and important firearms licensing consultation in 35 years”.
Its director of firearms, Bill Harriman, said: “Giving people the information they need to participate in a public consultation does not oblige them to follow the advice but helps them participate. We note that others from opposing quarters – such as the Gun Control Network – have also recommended answers.”
Tim Bonner, the chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: “Encouraging gun owners to respond to a firearms consultation is about the most logical activity imaginable and anyone interested in improving the current system should be pleased that so many people have engaged.”
The group said it supported many of the measures being put forward, including a requirement for two referees for shotgun certificate applications. “The alliance is wholly supportive of improvements to the licensing system,” Bonner said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the consultation was open to everyone, adding: “We will give careful consideration to all the responses received and a government response to the consultation will be published in due course.”
