- Shooting News
Anyone who has either applied for or renewed a Firearms or Shotgun Certificate recently will have encountered the need to get a medical check carried out by their GP before the certificate will be granted. This has caused major issues for some in that the GP may refuse to carry out the service. Others have experienced delays or found the cost incurred in doing it is inordinately high.
Med Cert is a private medical service that can access your medical information and deliver it to you and/or the police in an efficient and timely manner, removing the worry associated with the current administrative system.
The check normally costs £60, but Med Cert has offered a 10% discount to NSRA members to access this service.
If you are a current NSRA member, the discount can be obtained by quoting NSRA10 when applying.
Contact:
MedCert
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(0)20 8063 4503
- Shooting News
We are pleased to advise the Shooting Council Minutes – 25 July 2020 have been amended and are now in the correct page order including the previously missing page 13.
- Shooting News
Currently, the law relating to air guns allows people between 14 and 17 to shoot unsupervised on private land. The Firearms Safety Consultation seeks to change that and say that all shooting must be supervised. This will clearly have a negative impact on shooting in the field but also on clubs and associations by requiring unnecessary supervision.
The following question was tabled to the Secretary of State for the Home Department by one of the BSSC Member organisations:
How many fatalities have occurred due to a person between the ages of 14 and 17 using an airgun within the law unsupervised on private land with the permission of the owner in the last 14 years?
Kit Malthouse has replied that the requested information is not held centrally.
This would seem to indicate that the changes to airgun law that have been suggested in the Firearms Safety Consultation are not based on facts or any kind of analysis and have been described as a hostile act by the government.
- NSRA Competitions
With the greatest regret, the Board and Staff announce the cancellation of the Scottish and Bisley National Rifle Meetings for 2021. Here at the NSRA we were very much looking forward to being able to resume our major Rifle Championship Meetings this year, so as you can imagine these were very difficult decisions to make and, as such, they were not taken lightly.
The factors that have driven these decisions include the following:
Scotland (June/July)
- The local council have advised the venue that permission is unlikely to be granted for the event.
- Scotland has generally managed the pandemic more cautiously and has not published any specific dates for easing of restrictions beyond April 2021 (Scottish roadmap)
Bisley (August)
- Prof J Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England warned on 1st March that “we are still in a zone of great uncertainty” and the Prime Minister indicated that there is "no guarantee England will end restrictions on 21st June".
- This uncertainty affects both NSRA and NRA, so fixed dates for the hire of Century range cannot be guaranteed
- Changing accommodation, supplier and contractor arrangements at short notice is at best very challenging and prevents the meeting running this year.
- The roadmap for easing restrictions depends on so many factors, especially with the appearance of new variants and vaccination roll-out, which could easily affect the lead time (English roadmap)
The wellbeing and safety of volunteers, staff and competitors is paramount.
Contingency Plan
The Rifle Committee and NSRA Staff have been working hard on a contingency plan involving Regional long range qualifying events leading to a final at a suitable venue in late summer. Please keep an eye on the website and social media for more details and entry forms. There will also be details published regarding contingency plans for the ELEY, Queen Alexandra, Astor and Champion of Champions.
The cancellation of Bisley and Scotland together with the Junior International will have an impact on team selection for the Dewar, Drew, Pershing, Randle & Wakefield teams. Details will be published separately.
Bisley Centenary (2022)
Next year is a very important milestone in the history of the NSRA since it will mark the centenary of the first Smallbore Rifle Meeting held at Bisley. Planning has already started for what will be an historic and very special event coinciding with our Patron, the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Refunds
There are two options regarding refunds for both events:
1. Carryover entry fees to 2022 to avoid any possible price fluctuations
2. Request a refund – please send details to:
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We understand this news will be extremely disappointing, but we very much hope that you have a clear understanding of the reasons for these very challenging decisions and that you will enjoy the regional competition.
Kindest regards
Board of Management & NSRA Team
- Shooting News
Is mental health and wellbeing now business critical for sports organisations?
The pandemic has undoubtedly impacted workforces in the sports sector, resulting in increased stress and anxiety as demands and pressures continue to grow. Bluefin Sport and Marsh will be hosting an “Under the Spotlight” webinar on Tuesday 9 March at 10:15am focusing on how you can support your employees and your organisation through the long term risks of the COVID pandemic.
Lorna Feeney (Head of Mental Health at Marsh) and Carl Chapman (Client Director at Marsh Mercer Benefits) will be presenting and providing insights into the following:
- Mental health and COVID.
- Impact of mental ill-health.
- Law, financial, business and moral reasons.
- How to manage mental health in the workplace.
- Why address mental health?
- How you can use your wellbeing and benefit programmes to manage your people risk post COVID.
- Tips for Risk and HR functions to collaborate and drive value and cost efficiency from employee insurance and benefit programmes.
- How to ensure employees are supported, helping them to improve their health, engagement, productivity, and morale, as we move to the ‘new normal’.
If you are interested in attending and asking key questions on mental health in the workplace, then please register here. Should you have any further questions, please contact your local Bluefin Sports representative or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
- COVID-19
Following the Government announcement of the step-by-step plan to ease restrictions in England (applies to England only), the NSRA is putting together in-sport guidance to assist clubs and individuals. At this early stage, it appears that:
Current Situation
For the moment, lockdown regulations remain in place and no target shooting in clubs can take place.
- Shooting News
The National Smallbore Rifle Association (NSRA) is the National Governing Body (NGB) for airguns, smallbore rifle and pistol shooting in the United Kingdom.
High Muzzle Energy Rifles,
Levels of Security
- Shooting News
Starting in the next issue of On Target, due out by the end of March, we will be running a new feature called Club Corner. This will be a dedicated shop window for Clubs to promote themselves to achieve their key objectives in 2021 and beyond. These could include any of the following:
- Recruiting new members
- Promoting future competitions and events
- Updating and circulating club news
- Sharing best practice
- Inviting help and ideas
- Shooting News
- NSRA Competitions
2021 is looking to be another year of uncertainty. Unfortunately, this means it is not possible currently to confirm the competitions calendar for the year ahead. We are currently in the planning processes for the majority of the usual competitions; however as you will appreciate, the likelihood of them proceeding depends on many factors outside of our control. Where possible, we will be as flexible and reasonable as we can to try and enable competitions to take place. We also are aware that Covid19 could, in some scenarios, prove to be an insurmountable hurdle.
- News
The first (and hopefully last) anniversary of Covid restrictions and lockdown is fast approaching so this is an opportune time to look back over the past year and review the progress we have still made through the efforts of NSRA Staff and Board of Management. We would also like to add our thanks to all our Members and Affiliated Clubs for your continued support, understanding and constructive criticism, which is just as important as we battle to overcome the ravages of Covid.