What happened to the old British Home Guard after WW2.
Is there no rifle culture left? No membership recognized by the government.
Are you telling me that they don't even let people get together at Fair and practice long bow.


David Grouchy


For the avid gun owners in America,
here is a dirty little open secret.
The anti automatic rifle laws
have a very significant
cut off date.

One that leaves the Winchester lever action repeating riffle
as the single best remaining non-banned
high rate of fire
military weapon available in the US.
And it's a very decent resell investment.

Originally posted by alex1879

You're right the law could be imporved somehow, but not by relaxing it in anyway. its possible that letting everyone have a gun to defend themselves against the gangs will just mean more people caught in the crossfire.

That is the same thing that anti-gunners say in America every time gun laws are eased. We always hear that it will mean millions of innocent deaths. Yet, the number of murders in America declines every year while the gun laws loosen. The only areas of the country that saw an increase in the murder rate in 2010 weere the ones enacting stricter regulations.

Do concealed carry permits lower the crime rate? Honestly that is open for debate. I do believe that knowing the public can fight back deters crime. There have been multiple studies released over the years that show a fear of being shot will deter criminals. There were studies done amongst convicted felons in prison.

However people feel about it two things are obvious from looking at the American system. Loosening gun laws will not lead directly to an increased murder rate. Actually letting the citizenry carry guns about their person will not lead to rivers of blood. Despite what the critics tell you and the anti-gunners prophesy, making guns available for self defense does not lead to an increase in the murder rate.

My preteen son has 3 guns in his closet. A .22 semi-automatic rifle, a 20 Ga. Savage Arms single shot shotgun and a Daisy pellet gun. We also have a freezer full of wild pig, venison and rabbit.
I have trigger locks on all his guns except the pellet gun. He likes to take the pellet gun out at night to shoot rats that try to get into the chicken coop.
I was shooting deer in Tennessee with a .30/40 Craig when I was 11.

I was taught to early to recognize the responsibility that comes with gun ownership and continue to teach the same to my son. The gun laws in the UK seem bizarre to me. Criminals it seems can always get their hands on weapons if they want them.

My first post, so don't be gentle.

I really don't understand nor relate to the British stance on firearms, or at least what I understand of it. It's like the old, worn-out saw -- when guns are outlawed, only outlaws have guns. Silly, right? But where I grew up, in northern Idaho, everybody had a firearm or two; they were tools. There was no crime. People hunted for meat, fished, and murder/robbery/burglary was unheard of.

You know what? In this same part of the country, it is still so. Gun control really doesn't work. Firearm education works. As a child, I would no more have touched my parents' guns as I would have contemplated sawing off my arm. I knew better, and I knew there were severe consequences. I was taught how to safely handle firearms and I was taught to not shoot any animal I wasn't prepared to eat.

Why shouldn't people have firearms for home protection? Well, if they aren't willing to take complete responsibility for their gun ownership -- including education of their family/children -- then they shouldn't have them.

Trouble is, many governments want to remove guns from the people. Many governments have. What does that leave? Guns in the hands of the lawmakers, and guns in the hands of the criminals.

Look at places like Sweden, where gun ownership is mandatory. Very little crime. You folks in the UK -- it should be your right to protect yourselves, because criminals aren't going to yield. Criminals are cowards -- they prey upon the vulnerable, they are opportunists.