The UK’s largest shooting organisation, the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), is calling on its members and all who shoot to use the internet to lobby their Scottish Parliamentary candidates in advance of the upcoming Scottish Election on May 5.
BASC Scotland has launched a campaigning website which allows people to look up their Parliamentary candidates to assess their views on shooting issues. It allows shooters to email an automated text, which can be edited and personalised, to candidates to point out that shooting is an important part of the countryside and an important issue to their constituents. Candidates will be given the opportunity to respond.
BASC Scotland press and policy officer Nicolle Hamilton said: "This is a novel but effective means of ensuring that all candidates are aware of the shooting interests of their potential voters. We urge everyone who is involved in shooting to visit the BASC website www.basc.org.uk and to take a few minutes to send a message to their constituency and list candidates. It is also vitally important that they send responses back to us."
The email to candidates sets out the value of shooting to the countryside and to the economy. It also gives them the opportunity to comment on other shooting-related issues such as the devolution of airgun legislation and tail-docking for working dogs.
Nicolle Hamilton said: "While professional campaigning organisations such as BASC have their work to do, nothing gets through to a parliamentary candidate more effectively than a message from one of their own constituents. This novel approach, used for the first time by us in a Scottish election, is already giving us and the voters a clearer idea of their candidates’ views."
