Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

My son and his dad love going to the shooting range and I plan to go tomorrow to purchase a firearm (I want a 9mm semi-automatic and have a couple of choices in mind) but I've read that owning a gun is a no-no across the pond???

Why???

You're not allowed to own any firearms at all there?

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

And I hope I can discuss this here and no rules have been violated. If so, feel free to delete my post. But I'm really curious as to whether or not people in the UK can purchase firearms. And, if you can't, what is the crime rate like there. Do the criminals have an advantage over citizens because they have access to guns and the law-abiding citizens do not?

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

Hi

All Handguns are banned for Private Citizens.

You can have a low powered air pistol, that is all.

Handguns are restricted to the Armed Forces, the Police, and certain defined Enforcement Agencies, including the Civil Nuclear Police.

Handguns are also allowed for Humane Animal Dispatch, so some Vets have them and so do some Slaughterhouses.

The only exceptions to this are what are called Home Office Permits.

These apply to Security Personnel for Foreign Dignitaries, so if Trump comes here, his Security Detail would be allowed to carry handguns.

They also apply to certain ex Enforcement Agency Staff who are deemed to be at high risk.

In the event of a declared emergency, certain other Officers would be allowed to carry them, but they would be issued with them, they are not allowed to own them.

This will probably come as a shock to you Linda, but here in the UK it is a Criminal Offence to carry a Taser or Pepper Spray as well.

We have a very different Culture to the USA.

Gun ownership in the U.K. is far lower than in the U.S. as well.

On average, Britain has 6.5 guns per 100 people, compared to America, which has 101 guns per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey.

It is not only that, there is no way in the UK that you are going to be allowed a licence for an assault rifle or shotgun, yet in the USA they are as common as muck.

You are more than 50 times more likely to be killed by a gun in the USA than in the UK.

I hope that this goes some way to answering your Question.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

Good reply Swimmy, but just just remembering that shotguns can be owned by citizens under strict controlled licensing for sport shooting and for use by farmers.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

Hi

Yes, valid point Barry.

I apologise for missing it.

Here in the UK we have loads of shotguns, the village is full of them.

What we are not allowed is tactical, multi shot weapons, but they are allowed in the USA.

We have over and under double barrelled and side by side shotguns.

We have no automatic military use shotguns in general public ownership,unlike some states of the USA.

There is a world of difference between my prefered method of dealing with Woodpigeons and the Geese in Winter.

An AYA 25 inch barrel side by side magnum.

In the USA you can legally buy fully automatic military shotguns. and similar.

They have no other purpose but to kill people or stop Buses and HGVs with the right Ammo.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

If, in a Society, you need a Gun to protect yourself, it's probably time for a rethink.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

There is a major flaw in the gun system in the UK.

A dear friend who I have known for many a year phoned me yesterday. His son is 18 he is at Oxford Uni: and he wants to buy a gun for clay pigeon shooting where they live up on the outskirts of Manchester.
Apparently this gun has to be kept in a safe place only my friend will know the combination not his son. The police have to visit and check this out.
The reason for the phone call was to ask me to be his referee.
Here is the fun part.
The lad who is a lovely lad by the way had a breakdown last year at university and is on medication apparently a lot of kids are going through this nowadays (including my grand daughter who is the same age as him) so I know what he has been going through with worry. Anyways the point I am trying to make is that the system is obviously flawed by allowing people to purchase guns without a proper medical or some report from his or her doctor.
The long and short of it all is I told my friend I would not be his referee on what I know of his lad and on the reason that I don't believe in guns at all and would not even stand as a referee for my own.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

I'm inclined to agree with you there longfellow.
I hope your friend understands and it hasn't spoilt a friendship.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

My neighbours son had a gun for shooting rabbits and pigeons.
It had to be kept in a secure cabinet and the police came one to check it.

I don't know if he still has it, most of the time he lives with his girlfriend. A few years ago he broke up with his then girlfriend of many years standing and his mother told me in confidence she was worried about him he was so depressed. I had concerns about the fact that he had a gun and suggested to his mother that it should be removed.

I hate guns, I appreciate farmers may have a need for one occasionally but would prefer they were not kept on the premises but stored somewhere and 'signed out' when required.

Re: Are all handguns and firearms really banned in the UK?

I hope she removed the gun Meg, I have a friend who was in a similar situation, her son shot and killed himself recently. Very distressing for everyone and such a loss.

Linda you asked about gun crime here, I heard an interesting statistic recently. There is more gun crime in one night in Chicago than in a whole year in the UK. I haven't checked out that statistic but I suspect it's true.