So just who are these people?

Most, if not all, shooters who take an interest in their sport's future will have heard of the Gun Control Network. This shadowy organisation is chaired by Gill Marshall-Andrews (above), wife of the hard-left Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews. Up until the dissolution of the Firearms Consultative Committee in January 2004, Mrs Marshall-Andrews held a seat on the FCC, which was otherwise comprised of delegates representing the legal profession, the firearms trade, law enforcement and administration, and the national shooting bodies.

The Gun Control Network itself is diametrically opposed to any private ownership or use of 'guns' in all their guises. This opposition extends to airsofting, where players dress up in old military gear and shoot each other with BB guns in a similar manner to paintball. The GCN are frequently given column inches by the press where lawful and legitimate shooting comes under scrutiny, such as in this (admittedly old) Independent article. Note that Marshall-Andrews uses emotive and exaggerated language without bothering to mention examples; a tactic the group has consistently used in statements to the press since.

Googling the GCN comes up with their website, which I refuse to link to for reasons that will become plain. None of their articles are bylined. Their Education Pack, intended for use in schools, was the subject of a thorough fisking by an Israeli commentator who described its contents as "hate speech". You will also fail to find anything on the GCN site that allows you to join. They are a closed shop.

After a post on Tory Bear's blog which highlighted an attempt by Gill Marshall-Andrews to smear the Young Britons Foundation in her official capacity as chair of the GCN, I started researching the GCN's actual membership. Imagine my utter astonishment when I came across the GCN's Flickr page. On there, they admit that they have just four members.

Is there any group of comparable size that has such a voice in the media or at the highest levels of the legislative process? There are thousands of groups of individuals up and down the country but none of those are regularly asked for quotations to be published in the national media, or hold posts on Home Office committees, or agitate against a safe and legitimate sport.

Now is the time for this pathetically tiny and secretive organisation to be exposed for what it is: four bigots who can't justify themselves other than by manically repeating 'guns are evil'. They've even jumped on the fake charity bandwagon under a new name: the Infer Trust. This is a registered charity (No. 1080791) which seems to be nothing more than a rebranding of the GCN with a new website. Both groups quote the same London PO box number for postal contact, which should raise eyebrows.

Expose them for the minority of demagogues that they are, and their particular brand of hate speech shall wither and die on the vine. 

UPDATE: Just to re-emphasise, Gill Marshall-Andrews is the wife of Bob Marshall-Andrews MP. Perhaps this is the real reason behind the GCN receiving so much media publicity?