FFS and it turns out he'd only recently got his gun license reinstated after having it suspended by police

[DelicateFuckingFlower]

Unfuckingbelievable

Along with reports that his family had asked police to do a welfare check on him due to concerns about his mental health, it looks like opportunities to prevent this appalling outcome were missed

@TheLovelinessOfDemons

I'm autistic, I'm a member of the Sealed Knot and hold a shotgun licence so I can use a musket for reenactment.

Why do you need a real gun for this? Don't they make fake ones? I don't think it should be allowed. Hopefully they seriously review gun laws after this and tighten up who (as an individual) is allowed one. Work reasons only, not for hobbies.

One of my university professors required a gun licence for his gene gun that he used for splicing plant genes or something like that.

the sealed knot is reenactment and is not just men shooting.
it makes for an exciting spectacle
but the guns need to be kept locked up

people shoot deer, clay pigeons, rabbits.

Please move to the Daily Mail comments page - this was a weird one off event.

why @GreatAuntEmily

are we not allowed to discuss this on mn??

it is a rare event and of course there should be discussion

@GreatAuntEmily

Please move to the Daily Mail comments page - this was a weird one off event.

What an odd comment.

I hate the search for someone to blame when these unusual events happen - hence my suggestion to move to the Daily Mail comments page - HE was to blame.

you hate people having opinions?

@GreatAuntEmily

I hate the search for someone to blame when these unusual events happen - hence my suggestion to move to the Daily Mail comments page - HE was to blame.

Yes he was to blame but so are the laws that allowed him to have a gun in the first place. That's what's being discussed.

@GreatAuntEmily

Please move to the Daily Mail comments page - this was a weird one off event.

But if lessons aren’t learnt then it won’t be a one off event.

I would never want a gun licence personally and I don’t think anyone needs one.
It’s the statement that people with asd or mental health issues shouldn’t be allowed one that’s unacceptable to me.

Because that diagnosis says nothing about a person’s stability or ability to be responsible. Restricting gun licences for this group and not others just perpetuates the misconceptions around mental health.

It also somehow suggests that we can divide society into ‘mentally ill’ and ‘not mentally ill’. We can’t. Everyone has mental health and it will be worse at some times than others.
There will be people undiagnosed and unsupported whose mental health is worse than another person who is diagnosed and treated. Not having a diagnosis doesn’t mean nothing is there. The numbers of undiagnosed autistic people are huge.
People’s mental health fluctuates just like physical health and a blanket rule like this isn’t going to make anybody any safer . All it’s going to do is exacerbate the ‘othering’ of people with a diagnosis and lead to a false sense that the risk has been mitigated when it hasn’t as anybody can experience periods of poor mental health and the majority will.

I'm in Ireland & had heard about the shooting but not the details of the victims. Just picked up the Guardian today to see the beautiful & heartbreaking photo of Lee Martyn & his little daughter Sophie. 💔

It's hard to believe the carnage he caused in barely 12 minutes of shooting.

The poor poor victims. Somehow the image of the final victim, who was shot as she came out of the hairdressers, has really stayed with me.

Without a doubt, there are serious questions for the police to answer.

My sympathies to everyone in the Plymouth area.

musket for reenactment.

Not because of the autism but in general - do you store yourself own musket or are they stored securely on an organisation level?

I'm not rich enough to own one, but if I did I'd store it myself, adhering to the law.

@longwayoff

"I can use a musket for re-enactment". Which is absurd. You and your colleagues are playing at being Civil War soldiers and you should be using appropriate toys. There is no rational reason for any of you to hold a firearms licence for this purpose. Just more male posturing.

I'm a woman. All I know is we did the Civil War in O level history and I remembered nothing. I learnt everything I know from watching the Sealed Knot. That's when I contacted our local regiment to join.

Why do you need a real gun for this? Don't they make fake ones? I don't think it should be allowed. Hopefully they seriously review gun laws after this and tighten up who (as an individual) is allowed one. Work reasons only, not for hobbies

It's a replica. We use black powder but not shot. But we still require a shotgun licence.

@AbsolutelyPatsy

the sealed knot is reenactment and is not just men shooting. it makes for an exciting spectacle but the guns need to be kept locked up

The guns are kept locked up.

Oh for heaven's sake. It's PRETENDING to be soldiers etc and you do not need a real gun. I understand your interest, it is an enjoyable spectacle but a working firearm isn't necessary. It's an indulgence. If it isn't a working firearm then this conversation is redundant.

Thinking about this - it would be going against a person's rights for the police to be able to make the decision to take someone's gun away.
A family member was diagnosed with Dementia and the police went to his house and took away gun and licence within a couple of days. There must therefore be laws about this in the case of dementia but laws to cover every type of mental illness or incapacity would be difficult to enforce without strict guidelines - the police can't make the laws (he seems a bit odd we'll take his gun) they can only enforce the laws already made.