5th May 2025 - I Own A Firearm - Sort Of
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Today I received a firearm via a delivery service. It is a Gamo P900 
IGT. For those who know something about these things will now be 
confused. They will be declaring that I know nothing as this is an air 
pistol. Under UK gun laws, this still counts as a fire arm, albeit one 
which does not involve a fire arms licence. This has some interesting 
effects on what you get charged with for crimes. 

If I walk on private land without permission from the landowner, I am 
committing a civil offence. The police cannot arrest me for 
trespassing but they can encourage me off the private land. However, 
should I have an air rifle with me then I would be committing a 
criminal offence - trespass with a firearm. It does not matter if the 
air rifle is not working, it still counts. 

To buy a firearm in the UK, sales must be face to face. You can buy 
online but only if the company delivers it. They cannot use a courier. 
Instead, each company has a person with a van who drives around 
delivering. They cannot deliver unless they are delivering to the 
named person and there is proof of ID and address. This has to be 
recorded. For items which require a licence, I believe the police have 
to be informed of the sale. 

To gain a firearm licence, you need to register with the police, have 
a named gun club who can vouch for you, pass a background check and 
have adequate storage facilities. There are lots of other conditions. 
There are obligations about using the firearms or the licence may be 
taken away. There are also conditions such as the police being able to 
inspect your property to determine if you are abiding by the licence 
conditions on storage etc. These are all things which have put me off 
even thinking about it. 

I have done a fair bit of shooting. It is hard to be a reservist and 
not shoot. It was mostly SA-80s but I did manage to get on a science 
of rifle course which featured AK-47s, AK-74s, M1s, M4s, Schiers and 
some German rifles which felt like cannons. I have also been doing the 
odd bit of air rifle shooting with Scouts. I even won a competition 3 
years in a row. Well, one for leaders. I am not terrible at this 
shooting lark and it is rather fun to shoot at targets. 

I recently did a course to run air rifle taster sessions with Scouts. 
This seemed to be the right time to go and buy some toys which I can 
play with on ranges after the Scouts have left. It also becomes an 
excuse to give air pistols a go. I spent this morning turning my 
garage into a bit of a range. It can be rather concerning for 
neighbours if they see someone shooting something in a garden. 
However, they think of nothing for plinking noises coming from a 
garage. 

Shooting pistols is hard. I have a large amount of variability. There 
is a fair bit of wobble as I try to pull the trigger. I think this is 
down to my fingers not being long enough for the grip to trigger 
length. Yet, it is fun and I was able to start getting some reasonable 
grouping sorted. I should hope so at 4.5 metres. Garage lengths are 
not quite long enough.

The Gamo P900 seems to have a reputation online as being rather weak 
powered. I did not find this. It deformed the pellets rather nicely. I 
am guessing this impression is due to the distance really. On a 10 
metre range, I am sure the views are justified. I intend to try before 
I buy for the next purchase. Just the hand size against the grip. 

I am glad to have somewhere to practise and have a bit of a muck 
around. I have found a couple of options for where I can shoot on 
ranges as part of a club. I intend to join one of them. Gives me a 
reason to buy an air rifle then!