With the reported big increase in air rifle shootings of pets, as well as the injuries they have caused to both people and wild animals/birds, can anyone tell me why the wretched things aren't banned?  Is there actually a humane legitimate purpose to them?

We use ours to humanely kill the rats we catch in our live-catch trap.

So fill me in JG, is there a minimum age to own one, licence requirement etc?

No licence needed, and I believe you need to be 16 to own one; I think there are proposals to raise that to 18. Either way, I'm somewhat over that! ;)

Well I think owners should have to be licenced and licences should only be granted to those who can show legitimate cause.  I also think age limit should be at least 21.

Remember, guns aren't dangerous - it's the people who abuse them who are. ;) We've had ours for years (in fact we've had air rifles in the family since I was about 5 - that's when I first started being taught to shoot) and I can honestly say that no human or pet animal has ever suffered because of them.

The tin cans took a right pounding, though, as we learned how to aim!

Longbows, now, have a far greater range and power, and no licences needed for those either.

Sadly though JG it appears that most people are nothing like as responsible as you and get these things with the idea of it being fun to shoot at pets, wild animals and birds and, in some cases, even people.  Here are some examples of them being misused http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=d&q=air+rifle&go.x=34&go.y=10 

That kind of person will misuse anything - baseball bats, kitchen knives, whatever. Banning things only inconveniences the law-abiding people who don't misuse things. Why is there more gun crime since the ban than there was before? Perhaps compulsory CCF training where everyone's taught how to use guns responsibly would be more sensible.

Although I don't know the range of air rifles, I wouldn't imagine you would need to be as close to a victim as you would with the other things you mention.  If as was said these air rifles can be converted to become even more lethal, then maybe they should be covered by the general ban on handguns.  I would be interested to know just how many law abiding people use air rifles legitimately and humanely as opposed to the idiots who don't.  As to gun crime, perhaps the controls to stop guns coming into the country/penalties for using them aren't strict enough?  After all, all the licenced ones handed in when they were banned were supposed to have been destroyed weren't they?  A lot of gun crime seems to be linked to the drugs trade as well. 

As soon as something's banned it's automatically driven underground and all control is lost. Bans only affect the law-abiding who don't misuse things in the first place. The criminally-minded don't give two hoots.

JG why catch the rats live then shoot them? Honestly just wondering and not having a go. Personally I think the only good (wild) rat is a dead one! Is it rather than having them caught in a conventional trap and possibly not dying straight away? But then I wonder how that weighs up against the panic they must feel being trapped for hours then a person approaching them? Also I wouldn't personally want to shoot them...would rather kill long distance with poison or normal trap. OK I'm curious and sure you will have a very good reason :D

Traps can catch them by a limb, poison is a nasty death and can affect the wrong animal as indeed could the traps so out of them all shooting, if you have the bottle to do it :), seems like the most humane to me.

Poison is evil and indiscriminate. I used to get the council rat-man round, but after the dogs ate the poison and we had a horrible afternoon at the vet I'll never use poison again. I also used to use killing-traps, but after several small birds and a hedgehog got killed instead of rats they're obviously out too. If the victim isn't killed outright (they can drag the traps for quite some distance) then it's going to have the physical agony of being crippled as well as the fear when the human arrives to dispatch it. And dispatch it how? Drown it? Beat it to death with a stick?

It's also handy for helping our neighbour reduce her rabbit population (using the correct slugs) - it makes a nice change to the dogs' menu! :D

Cheers JG :D  I knew there would be a very sensible reason, good stuff.

p.s. the zois want to know if your neighbour would like them to come visit to help with that rabbit problem?

The problem with air rifles is that in the wrong hands with people that know what they are doing can make them more powerfull than is legal with hardly any work :(
But they are good at keeping the rat/rabbitt/pigeon population down.
One of our elderly customers calls a friend round when she fancies pigeon pie!!!!
He goes into her paddock, shoots some pigeons and hey presto LOL
Lea :)

It's incredibly easy to make firearms anyway. My friends used to make historical replicas for re-enactment societies. They were honest and had licences - but nobody would know a person was making one.

Fair enough perhaps for skilled use in pest control but I wonder how many unskilled people think that taking pot shots at what they see as pests is fair enough, even though they might take several shots to kill or the animal/bird could escape and face a lingering painful death.

At least if they were licenced, owners might be required to prove their level of competence.

I grew up with air rifles / pistols (my dad used to target shoot for our town) was always taught how to use it safely we would shoot rabbit shaped targets. My brother at 15 / 16 would still shoot garden birds with it when my parents were out he got his comeupance though, when my parents went on holiday (he was about 17/18 at the time) his mate shot him in the knee cap and he had to have an operation :D :D  It was great, I got the whole house to myself for a week and I was only 15   Parents werent too pleased when they got home (naturally I didnt want to ruin their holiday by telling them) and the guns were confiscated :p

I do worry about my cats though, I have seen kids go in the woods behind my house with air rifles, some kids just dont care what they shoot - if it moves they shoot

At least if they were licenced, owners might be required to prove their level of competence.

Quite agree, Annie.
(So glad I wasn't born a rabbit, pigeon or rat, aren't you  ? :) )

I'd be happier as a rabbit, pigeon or rat if I knew my end was going to be at the hands of a competent shooter, and wouldn't have to suffer agony of poison or snare. ;)

chaumsong we never used the conventional flip traps either because I found them to be far too dangerous.  For 1 I have children and if they found one accidentally and touched it I would hate the consequences and the same for a dog and his nose to sniff out the bate! I would rather live trap and dispose of after!

Although at my own home (when living in Belgium) we never had an air rifle so had to drown the rats. But when living at my mums house as a teenager we would regularly watch the route the rats took from the bedroom and shoot them out the window! little blighters :rolleyes:

er, yes, very legit reasons. I was taugght to shoot with one, as were most kids I know. Its an excellent way for kids to be taught all the safety and etiquette of licences firearms on a smaller scale so they know the routine when the get their 1st gun. (F/A)
Despite having 4 F/A,We still keep 3 air arms here of varying type/calibre, as they are excellent for rabbit and rat and corvid control. They are better than either a rifle (F/A) or a shotgun because the other rabbits in the field dont hear the shot & scarper! They are safer & quieter for corvids than a shot gun as there is no falling shot and less noise. They are clearly safer for rats...... dont like using a F/A on such small ground vermin, even a .410 in a confined area can be unwise. So yess there are plenty of good & legit reasons why we keep them. its not the guns that are at fault, itys the stupid kids who obtain them. your argumant is like saying all APBT should be banned!!!!!!!

Are you UK based Sam?  Sorry, no idea what APBT is!

American Pit Bull Terrier

Ah, thanks Claire. :)

Yes, Sam's UK based. :) The point she's making is that banning something because some idiots misuse it is pointless. Some people (even with driving licences, so that's no certification of responsibility) use cars for ramraid thefts and (nowadays) insurance scams. Perhaps we should ban cars to prevent them?

Why not just have proper stiff sentencing for those who do misuse such things, rather than the paltry slap on the wrist they get now? Sadly we haven't got transportation to a penal colony available any more, but something along those lines would, if it didn't work as a deterrent, at least get the blighters out of the way for a good few years!