ACPO Endorses NGO Shooting Law Book

15 October 2009

In a move demonstrating good cooperation between the police and gamekeepers, the Association of Chief Police Officers has endorsed the authoritative book Sporting Shooting and the Law, published by the National Gamekeepers' Organisation.

A new 2009 edition of the NGO's book, published this month and written by David Frost, bears the ACPO logo on the front cover and the endorsement of ACPO's Firearms and Explosives Licensing Working Group (ACPO FELWG).

The Assistant Chief Constable of Dorset, Adrian Whiting, who chairs ACPO FELWG, has provided a foreword to the book, in which he writes:

"I am extremely keen to work jointly with the NGO, and others, to ensure that the complexity of law facing us all is put into pragmatic practice, such that responsible shooting can continue to flourish.  This updated edition, of what amounts to very pragmatic guidance, is a document I am very pleased to commend to all those interested in this field."

ACPO FELWG's endorsement of the NGO's book is an encouraging sign that recent mistakes by some firearms licensing departments and wider rural policing operations are acknowledged and set to decrease. Indeed, Adrian Whiting writes in his foreword:

"One of ACPO FELWG's key roles is to work with practitioners and others to make recommendations to the chief police officers of forces as to the approaches that should be taken in interpreting and applying the law.  "Sporting Shooting and the Law" is a great help to the members of police forces engaged in this work locally and assists the national Working Group through being a very handy reference."

In order to assist this process, the NGO is sending free copies of Sporting Shooting and the Law to every police firearms licensing department in the UK as well as to 50 Police Wildlife Liaison Officers who have already requested it via their National Wildlife Crime Unit.

Sporting Shooting and the Law is 52 pages long, pocket-sized and with a flexible cover, designed to make it the ideal handy reference for all practical countrymen. It summarises every law that affects sporting shooting throughout the UK and it is right up to date.

The book can be ordered from the NGO's online shop at http://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk/  

It costs just £6.00 including postage and packing.