Andy,

Untill these two recent incidents, the UK has had an excellent safety record in such matters. In the first case I would say at least part of the blame was down to the "victim"..

If the BASC Code of Practice had been followed in either case, neither accendent would have happened. You don't need "training" to follow read & follow about 10 guide lines and a weekend or two of "training" is not going to do any good if the person his no common sense in the first place.

Mandatory training will just give the Police and other "anti's" another method of restricting gun ownership by the back door while providing a "cash cow" for certain self styled experts as the DSC 1 & 2 has done.

Regards,

Pete

Night rifle shooting is an aspect of UK shooting that is becoming increasingly popular. It is also a much more danger/mistake fraught activity; it is not pure coincidence so much as a trend that these two incidents illustrate.
Anyone who shoots a rifle in the dark knows how easy/common it is too encounter mistakes/potential disaster.
I agree, compulsory training should be introduced for shooting a rifle in the dark. Night shooting should be a licensed activity only allowed on a fac after testing.
People just don't read/follow advisory codes with sufficient vigour.
This political talk about limiting freedoms is meaningless in the face of irresponsibility.
We're better off with half as many trained, responsible shooters after dark in our crowded little island.(imo)

Pete,

This is assuming that the person concerned is a member of BASC and has read the Code of Conduct.

People with no common sense should be weeded out at the application stage of FAC or during the interview / home visit. The Police as I understand it, do not want to restrict public gun ownership anymore than what conditions are already in place.

I am merley suggesting that there should perhaps be a training programme run at the application / renewal stage to highlight and promote safe usage. It is obvious to me that the two recent cases have been extremely unfortunate, but nevertheless possibly avoidable?