A target shooting association that was denied charitable status by the Charity Commission this week, said it was “saddened” by the decision and is struggling to raise funds for an appeal.
Sandra Haskett, secretary of the Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association (CTSA) told Civil Society News that the decision to reject the group as a charity took over a year, leaving it “on edge”.
“The CTSA applied to the Charity Commission a year ago and it has taken this long to sort, keeping us on edge and only asking for additional information eight months into the application,” said Haskett.
“At the time of the application the Charity Commission was advised that there was additional information available should they require it, but no extra information was asked for,” she said.
According to Haskett, CTSA is “considering an appeal” but “needs to find funding and specialist support to be able to progress”.
“We do make the point that the Charity Commission did consider ‘detriment or harm’ in its assessment and concluded that as shooting clubs are regulated by statute law and the home office, that there was no evidence to establish detriment or harm which would otherwise arise from the recognition of the CTSA as a charity,” said Haskett.
“The CTSA is saddened by the decision which segregates a social sport which is open to all ages and abilities and also provides self discipline,” she said.
According to the organisation's website, it specialises in providing coaching, target shooting leagues and hosting tournaments and events to “promote, encourage and facilitate the development of the participation in the sport of target shooting within Cambridgeshire”.
'No impact on other shooting clubs'
The Charity Commission ruled against awarding charity status to the association on the basis that shooting does not promote physical health or operate “for the public benefit”.
In a report published on Tuesday, the regulator said: “Although the Commission recognises target shooting as a sport which involves physical and mental skill, it was not satisfied it had been sufficiently demonstrated that the activity itself promotes health.
“Accordingly it could not be considered charitable either under the advancement of amateur sport or the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation.”
According to the Commission, gun clubs were historically registered as charities on the grounds that "teaching people skills of accurate shooting could be considered as a charitable purpose for the defence of the realm”. But it said that registration of “certain existing registered gun clubs” could not continue where they existed primarily “for the benefit of members rather than for the defence of the realm as to which there was little or no connection”.
A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission told Civil Society News: “Our decision is based specifically on the specific application. In this case the application was considered on the basis of whether target shooting promotes health, and as such if its purpose is charitable."
The Commission said that various shooting associations and gun clubs were removed from the register during the early 1990s on the grounds that “there was so little connection between the defence of the realm and the recreation shooting for the members of the clubs”.
“Those which are still on the register tend to be in order to assist beneficiaries linked to the armed forces or cadet training” the spokeswoman said.
“We do not believe that [this week's] decision impacts upon other registered gun clubs. The Commission has not previously accepted that target shooting promotes health so as to qualify as a charity either for the charitable purpose of healthy recreation or the advancement of amateur sport."
