Jumping Jack
Barnstormer...being comfortable around firearms is utterly irrelevant! As a bonefide owner of firearms I too am comfortable around firearms, but I don't see that as any excuse to hold others illegally. If you don't have a firearms cert for a weapon you have in your possession (other than a military firearm in the course of your duties) IT IS AGAINST THE LAW
Lets assume that you and I as keepers of weapons have not shot anyone just for the fun of it while not on active service (I say that as there are people who seem to think just having a weapon in the house must lead to carnage), but do have weapons in our homes. What I'm not getting is why there was such an outcry in this case. Is it because civilian police found the weapon (which he clearly didn't smuggle into the UK), is it to stop a mass influx of booty returning to the UK (there is an awful lot here already) or did Nightingale do something to upset someone?
I guess we do all have feelings on UK firearms law, and I think a lot of it is madness. As an example: just imagine that a soldier guarding the barracks where Lee Rigby was killed ran out to give him first aid. He would be on duty, but would be braking firearms law by carrying a weapon in a public place. Even two or three paces outside of the barracks he should in theory go to jail.....
Does that make sense?
If Nightingale had carried this glock in public or fired it I would have a different point of view of him, but I can't help thinking there is more to this.
I can't join the its the law gang, as not all laws always make sense.
Look at pte Lee Clegg. He fired his weapon several times at once. He could have blown an innocent drivers head off and it would have been perfectly legal......the only problem was that one of his last shots killed the driver!
So, we have paras breaking their mates leg and lying to create a cover up and the populous and media rally round to get Clegg set free. Nightingale on the other hand hasn't even touched the weapon on UK soil, and is a villain.
Are we missing something?