Message to the minister

Dear Sarah Jones MP,

I hope you have a moment for a letter that comes not from a stately home with sweeping drives, hunting lodges and out houses for the help, but from a very ordinary semi detached house in Coventry where the grandest feature is a slightly uneven patio and a shed that leaks when it rains. There are no marble staircases here, no family portraits and no footmen polishing silver. My neighbours and I share the glamorous daily experience of wheelie bins, school runs and the occasional cat that behaves as if it pays the mortgage.

I grew up on a council estate in a single parent family and had free school meals. I learnt at a very young age how to stretch a pound. I’m a working man with two beautiful children and a beautiful fiancée and my idea of luxury is managing to drink a cup of tea before it goes cold.

I did not receive my first shotgun certificate until I was nearly forty. I had to wait almost 15 years because I wanted to own my home first. Most rented houses will not allow a heavy gun safe to be bolted to a wall. So I waited. I saved. I did everything the right way and followed all the rules.

As a father I dread the idea of guns ever being used to harm anyone. I know exactly how dangerous they can be in the wrong hands. This is why I respect our licensing system. When it is followed and funded properly it keeps people safe. It already works and it works well.

This is why I worry so much about the idea of treating Section 2 shotguns in the same way as Section 1 firearms. Section 2 guns are still high risk and every responsible shooter accepts that, yet they are not at the level of Section 1 firearms and they are used in a completely different way. That difference is the entire reason the licences exist separately. It is as clear as the difference between a bicycle and a motorcycle.

Public safety will not improve through these proposals. The people who commit gun crimes do not fill out forms, they do not give the police access to their medical records and they definitely do not install expensive secure cabinets bolted to the wall. They are not the people waiting 15 years to meet the rules. Placing extra burdens on the safest group in the country will not reduce crime. What would help is stronger action against illegal firearms and proper funding for licensing teams so they can apply the laws we already have.

Licensing departments are already under enormous strain. Waiting times continue to grow. Staff are exhausted. Many applicants wait a year or more. The tragic case in Plymouth happened because the existing rules were not applied, not because there were too few rules. More layers of paperwork will only slow the system further until it collapses.

If these plans go ahead shooting will drift back into the situation it occupied a century ago when only the wealthy could take part. People with estates and staff will always find a solution. It will be people like me who lose out. We will no longer be able to enjoy a bacon sandwich and a round of clays on a Sunday morning. Privilege will continue untouched while ordinary people like me are pushed aside.

My friends who shoot are normal people called Mark, Steve and Simon. We are electricians, shop workers, binmen and mechanics. We are the people who keep this country moving. None of us owns tweed… well unless it is from Vinted.

I voted Labour because I want fairness and better lives for normal families. I wanted support for people who need help. I wanted to make sure people who cannot stand up for themselves are treated with respect and dignity. I never thought my harmless pastime would be placed at risk because someone sitting in Westminster imagines it belongs only to the wealthy. It does not. It belongs to people like me who follow every rule that is asked of us and more.

I would be very happy to meet you in person if that would help. I know you have recently met representatives from BASC and I am sure they explained the complexities far more eloquently than a bloke from Coventry will ever manage, but I wanted to add my voice as well. I care about this issue deeply and I hope you can see how much it matters to normal people like me who shoot.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.