Update from the British Shooting Sports Council AGM

Countryside Alliance Head of Shooting Campaigns, Liam Stokes, writes: Yesterday was the Annual General Meeting of the British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC), and the Countryside Alliance was well represented. The main talking points of relevance to our members were the Medical Evidence Working Group (MEWG), the progress of the EU Firearms Directive and the Policing and Crime Bill.

The Countryside Alliance has been hard at work on all three issues in different ways. We are a member of the MEWG, we have been advising and lobbying MEPs over the Firearms Directive and we have taken the lead in challenging ministers to use the Policing and Crime Bill to make life easier for law abiding gun owners and the police licensing departments who serve them.

What was clear at yesterday's meeting is that progress is being made. We are close to being able to announce the results of the MEWG, and we continue to gather support for the Alliance's proposed amendments to the Policing and Crime Bill, where it is still all to play for.

On the Firearms Directive we are grateful to you, our members, for your support of the FACE UK eLobby. Literally hundreds of thousands of emails have been sent to MEPs as a result and the replies we have collated have been overwhelmingly favourable. The feeling at the BSSC meeting was that MEPs are listening, they understand this is poorly worded legislation threatening to hamper legal shooters rather than target terrorism, and the legislation is changing accordingly. This is good news, and we at the Alliance will continue to monitor the situation, keep you updated and work to secure a positive result for the shooting community.

Follow Liam on Twitter @LNJStokes and follow the shooting campaign @CA_Shooting