doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Interesting article about firearm controls in Brit

This is an interesting article published in the http://www.fourten.org.uk/index.html site regarding gun controls in Britian and the slippery slope the Brits slid down until they became shackled with the firearm controls they have today http://www.fourten.org.uk/BritishFirearmsControlPart1NoControls.pdf there is another article by the same author.
Steve

Do not get carried away with what you read and hear about guncontrol here in the UK.
Tim Woodhouse although well read in the US is not highly regarded in the UK.
Maybe he rattles too many feathers of the Hoy Paloy? (spelling?)
We obviously have strict gun controls, no pistols, no concealed carry, no automatics, unless you are a criminal.
But shotguns and rifles are relatively easy to licence and obtain.
The problem we have here is that occassionally someone runs amok.
When the subsequent enquiry reveals that the felon usually is known to the Police, is a known offender or mental problem but the Police chose to take no action.
Then when all hell breaks loose they penalise the legitimate licence holding sportsman.
nil carborundum illegitimus

What Salopian says is true.
Looking at our firearms law from the USA, it looks like a highly regulated system and is denigrated by most. What they fail to realise is that gun owners are a tiny minority of the population, each following his own discipline and most belonging to an association that focuses on their specific sporting addiction.
Furthermore, we don't have the tradition of owning and using firearms that you have in the US. Until relatively recently, the land and firearms were owned by a relatively small number of wealthy people. It is only since the 2nd world war that guns have become more commonplace with the working man, other than perhaps the farm worker or poacher.
We have also suffered from an establishment that has been terrified of facing a popular revolution ever since the turn of the 19th Century and the foundations of our gun laws can be found in that fear.
Please also remember we are a very small country with a relatively huge population. I prefer to know that anybody with a legally held firearm has been thoroughly checked out. In the UK it is not a right to bear arms and nor should it be so.

For all the UK gun-law bashing we hear in the US, I am delighted whenever I visit London to drop by the numerous really good gun shops located in downtown London. I always manage to book a lesson at H&H's shooting grounds, located within the city limits.

In New York, we have one gun store of note: Beretta, and an upstairs office of H&H.

It's easier to buy and own a shotgun in London than it is in New York.

It is not really possible to make value judgments regarding the two systems because of the very different history each country has regarding hunting and gun ownership.

But the shooting sports are reasonably well in Britain!

Hey, you Brits are happy, I'm happy. More than a few of us, here, would have loved to have a chance to have the handguns we sent you, returned, last time the hun tried to over-run you, before said weapons went to the smelter, but, bygones are bygones, I guess. I'd like a crack at the M1 Garands the Koreans are trying to dispose of, but, the community organizer in chief has other ideas. When oil hits $150 a barrel, this summer, I'm pretty sure the dems won't even nominate him for round two, in 2012.
I've heard it isn't illegal to land at Heathrow, with a legal sporting arm in one's luggage, but, it might as well be, so, I won't be along, anytime soon. The French didn't have a problem with it, in Lyon, last time I tried, but, all that might be different today.
Good luck. From my readings of Theodore Dalrymple, you are really going to need it. Your gun laws might be the least of your troubles.

Best,
Ted

I wonder what the few British soldiers left over from WW2 think of the current laws and the state of the country in general.I try not to laugh when I see all the furor over the upcoming "royal wedding." We're just as bad with our fascination with the Hollywood nut bin.

This is really a constructive post.

You are misinformed (no surprise) but it is not legal to land at Heathrow with a sporting arm in one's luggage. It's also not legal to land at any commercial US airport with a a sporting arm in your luggage.

Your ridiculous comments regarding WWII guns reminds me of the a-holes who I encountered in the 70s, when I spent a lot of time in Japan, who would always bring up "Who won the war?" when they either got lost or couldn't figure out how to get on the underground.

That's odd seems just a few years ago in 2005 I took off from Ohare (Chicago) flew to Anchorage and then back again, with firearms (and my dog). Oh dear me,was I breaking the law?
Steve

The firearms regulations in the U.K. are stringently enforced. A recent case that went to trial in the Staffordshire Crown Court concerned the ownership of an unregistered,old .22 single shot bolt action rifle and 120 approx; rounds of hollow point ammunition[Refered to in the press as dum-dum bullets]Hollow points are not permitted in England except by special permit.The owner was a married man with no previous convictions but was clearly at odds with an animal rights group.Verdict,Guilty,sentence 2 years in prison.To me this seems a very harsh sentence.

No, but neither your dog nor your firearm were in your luggage. Perhaps you were, but that's another issue.

Your firearm was in a separate package.