I just got this in an e-mail from SCI --- ???

Croatia is on the list. Does this mean I can't transit England on the way to Croatia?

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Recently, SCI’s London Chapter worked to clarify reports from other hunting publications of changes for hunters travelling through the United Kingdom with their sporting firearms. Below is a statement prepared for SCI by the UK Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), who handles the import and export of firearms in the UK.



Traveling Through the UK to Your Hunting Destination

"There have been reports in the hunting press recently that the UK has banned passengers with sporting firearms flying through the UK to many more destinations, including many in Africa and Central Asia.


Legislation on transshipment is being changed from 6 April 2009. An extra 49 countries are being added to a list of sensitive destinations, which will mean that a license will be required to transit or transship small arms or other "Category B" weapons to those destinations via the UK. However, there has for some time been a special license - the Open General Transshipment License (Sporting Guns) - which allows hunters or others who are passing through the UK accompanying their sporting weapons as personal effects, to do so without applying for a license for the individual trip, provided they meet the terms set out in the body of the license. Those terms state a number of things, but most importantly, that the trip should be no longer than 30 days and the firearms return with the individual; and the license also sets out the types of weapons covered and the destination countries for which it can be used.



The Open General Transshipment License (Sporting Guns) is not affected by the forthcoming changes in legislation. It will remain in force; the list of excluded countries will not be expanded; and as before, it will not be necessary for hunters to register to use it. You will need to look at the actual license (http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38952.pdf) for details of all the exclusions, but the prominent hunting countries for which this license cannot be used are Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, CROATIA, Ethiopia, Iran, FYR Macedonia, Nepal, China, Serbia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe.



Therefore, the message for hunters is clear; in terms of transiting the UK, nothing has changed and there is no reason to alter your plans as a result of what BERR is doing.

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Finally (and I really don't mean to offend any of our outstanding UK members, you are a wonderful lot, and have a great country), IMHO, the one airport to avoid at all cost in Europe is Heathrow in London. Not only does Heathrow come out on top in terms of lost luggage, they also seem to have the most devious and complicated rules for who can travel with guns to where and why. If you had to change airports in the UK, on top of any issues with clearing Customs, you have to get a courier to transport your guns from one airport to the next, needless to say, at considerable cost... (Sorry, Ben, I really did not mean to pour scorn on you or the UK in general).

Bill,

I'm with Mikee - don't want to rain on anyone's parade.

I traveled to the UK (Heathrow) on business at least three times a month for 20 years. I refuse to check baggage in to London because regardless of the airline I couldn't get a simple overnight bag to arrive or depart with me with regularity. That's jsut with a toothbrush and a shirt change let alone a firearm.

Avoid UK.

Although I haven,t personally travelled through Heathrow with a firearm some friends did so this winter.
None found it an uplifting experience ! One described his interview,for lack of a better word,as though he was being checked for thoughtcrime.
Just a suggestion Bill but have you considered travelling San Francisco-Dublin-Zagreb ?
It is relatively easy to get a transit licence here or gosh if you decided to sight see Dublin it would be rude not to take you out for a sika in Wicklow [close by] .
Just a thought.