Men jailed after sniper rifle found in back of minicab in South Croydon (a .22 LR!)

[DonP]

22. In the UK it's a popular squirrel gun too

They have a major problem with the grey squirrels from North America as an invasive species.

The grey squirrels, brought from North America as pets originally decades ago, are driving the smaller native red squirrels out of their territories and the red squirrel is facing possible extinction in the UK.

As a result, a lot of UK landowners have gotten permits to shoot the grey squirrels and give the native species a chance to recover.

CBS Sunday Morning did a feature on it a few months ago. The suppressors are REQUIRED by law for this in most counties, so as not to disturb the neighbors, and the two favorites for this job are the Ruger 10/22 and the Marlin Model 60.

It reduces the sound to about the level of a Daisy Red Ryder, but they weren't using sub-sonics because of the distances they were shooting at, so they could be quieter.

Treating anything with a scope on it as a sniper rifle just makes me wonder how long until a half dozen or so pissed off Germans with pointy sticks decide to take all of Lancashire and Dorset as compensation for the Dresden bombings?