Brits and handguns.
- Thread starter Ranb
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CriticalSock
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I live in the UK and I used to own an 8shot CO2 air pistol which i attempted to keep in accordance with the air rifle code of practice. In the first month I managed to shoot my brother in his fleshy behind (because I was *sure* it wasn't loaded) and shortly later I got drunk and decided to shoot all the books in my bookshelf that I didn't like.
So if UK gun laws are relaxed then someone needs to make sure I never get my hands on one.
So if UK gun laws are relaxed then someone needs to make sure I never get my hands on one.
That poll, and the article presenting it, is complete nonsense. Firearm ownership has never, as far I can see, been common in the UK. The 1997 Act did remove most pistols from their owners, but the numbers involved were small as a percentage of the population.
I considered it at one time, then they were made illegal. (My sister and her husband used to shoot Practical Pistol, and I thought about trying that.)
Wouldn't you normally use a rifle for that?
Rifles and shotguns are more popular, but bows and handguns are still used here in the USA.
Ranb
Did the guns save life report describe why the handgun ban was introduced in the first place? I bet it didn't. Gun nut massacres infants in primary school. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre And can anyone tell me how the Woolwich murder would have been prevented by relaxation on gun ownership. Off duty soldiers in the street don't normally carry guns - and if they do, are they to shoot anyone who approaches them, just in case? No, the people who would benefit from relaxation would be the terrorists and other criminals who try to obtain concealable weapons for nefarious purposes.
Liam
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Then if mad jihadis want to cut off your head, having a handgun won't do you much good unless the terrorists are hiding in your safe.
Why not with a carry permit like your US colleagues?
Rolfe
Adult human female
What he said.
By the way, does anyone remember a previous bit of lying/misrepresentation by the NRA in America? They got hold of some news footage of the upper-class twit protests against the ban on foxhunting, which were pretty well organised and had a lot of people in attendance. The represented that as being Brits protesting on the streets for the right to hunt with guns.
The only problem is, the protests were against the banning of hunting with hounds. For animal welfare reasons, the government had decided it was no longer acceptable to chase a wild animal until it collapsed with exhaustion, and then have it torn apart by a pack of dogs.
The protesters didn't like what the government were telling them to do if they had a problem with fox vermin killing chickens or so on. The acceptable procedure was - to shoot the buggers with a gun! The protest was actually against being forced to use a gun to hunt foxes!
Rolfe.
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Aulus Agerius
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I concur. The Gallup pole referred to above seems a more accurate representation of public opinion in the UK. Hunting is not really a common pastime in the UK, and most people I know prefer the advantages of an unarmed culture - such as police who do not routinely carry guns - to the marginal advantages of having guns - such as hunting and sport shooting.
British understatement.
Almost completely unheard of would be closer to the truth. Outside of deer stalking in the Highlands, I can't think of any examples of hunting with guns in the UK (not saying that there aren't any; if there are, they are certainly not popular pastimes).Shooting grouse and other game birds, with shotguns, would be the bulk of any shooting involving live targets, and that's done by a fairly small group of well-off people.
Rolfe
Adult human female
British understatement.
Shooting grouse and other game birds, with shotguns, would be the bulk of any shooting involving live targets, and that's done by a fairly small group of well-off people.
Hunting is more widespread than you might think, but nobody uses handguns for hunting. They use shotguns and rifles. It just isn't an issue.
Round here, the place is lousy with pheasants bred specifically for hunting. It's a huge industry, with the birds being reared in captivity and then released. Grouse hunting is big business too. You just have to look at the numbers of birds being managed for shooting. It's eye-popping.
Taking a gun and going after rabbits is fairly popular too. I often hear bangs on summer evenings, and I'm pretty sure these are coming from the rabbit warren a few hundred yards away. The grouse moor is four or five miles away, a bit far for gunshots to carry.
Just - nobody is using handguns for that and nobody wants to use handguns for that. Anyone advocating that handguns should be allowed for hunting purposes would be run out of town as the duplicitous gun nut he undoubtedly would be.
Rolfe.
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Even after the Woolwich murder, there is little or no enthusiasm for less strict gun laws. It was pressure from voters which pushed the government into legislation after Hungerford and Dunblane, it was not something imposed on us against our will.
My ex did at one time own several shotguns and I have shot at clay pigeons with them, but when he went a bit loopy he had his shotgun licence revoked (quite rightly IMO). It's not difficult to get a shotgun licence for those who want them for hunting or target shooting.
The article quoted in the OP is wrong in suggesting that the majority of British people want our gun laws relaxed, and is also wrong as referring to us as 'Royal subjects'. We have a monarchy but we are citizens, not subjects.
My ex did at one time own several shotguns and I have shot at clay pigeons with them, but when he went a bit loopy he had his shotgun licence revoked (quite rightly IMO). It's not difficult to get a shotgun licence for those who want them for hunting or target shooting.
The article quoted in the OP is wrong in suggesting that the majority of British people want our gun laws relaxed, and is also wrong as referring to us as 'Royal subjects'. We have a monarchy but we are citizens, not subjects.
Yes, sorry if I wasn't clear, I was talking about hunting with guns in general, not specifically handguns (I thought we'd dismissed that already).
I would not class that as hunting, myself, anyway.
Yes. My aim was to emphasise Aulus Agerius's point that since there is barely anybody doing hunting with any sort of gun in the UK, that the number of people wanting to do it with handguns is going to be close to zero. There is no popular interest in owning and shooting guns in the UK.
British understatement.
Shooting grouse and other game birds, with shotguns, would be the bulk of any shooting involving live targets, and that's done by a fairly small group of well-off people.
I think it's more of a rural thing, there's a fair amount of hunting around here ant it's not just the well off doing it. As Rolfe points out, there's a fair amount of rabbit hunting.
I'll concede that one. I've never lived anywhere rural enough to see it going on. I'd guess it's still a pretty tiny percentage of the population that is doing it, though.
Would that be with shotguns or rifles?
I mostly hear shotguns.
Skepticemea
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My ex-father in law ran a shoot (pheasant mostly). I think anyone bringing a handgun along to that would be given short shrift and possibly detained as a loony.
I think there's a historic and geographic aspect to the "meh" Britons have with hunting. As far as I can recall, being able to go off into the woods to bag yourself some game was limited for many hundreds of years to the owners of that land and their guests/employees. As most of the land in Britain was owned by the Crown/aristocracy/Church, that left precious few places to be able toslaughter innocent hunt animals. Consequently Britain doesn't really have a widespread hunting culture (apart from a few chinless wonders with a Tweed fetish).
I think there's a historic and geographic aspect to the "meh" Britons have with hunting. As far as I can recall, being able to go off into the woods to bag yourself some game was limited for many hundreds of years to the owners of that land and their guests/employees. As most of the land in Britain was owned by the Crown/aristocracy/Church, that left precious few places to be able to
Why would they be any more nutty than other hunters? I'm not talking about using a compact pocket pistol, but a handgun designed for hunting out to ranges of 200 yards.
Ranb
Rolfe
Adult human female
I think airguns are quite common. Lots of sad stories of people's beloved pet cats being shot with the things.
I had a case a year or two ago where five dead seagulls were found in an urban street. This was classed as a "mass die-off" and the birds submitted for surveillance screening for possible bird flu (and West Nile Disease and God only knows what else).
They had all been killed by airgun pellets. Or so it appeared from the x-rays. I just said to the cops, these are going in the freezer right now, get back to me if you ever find a suspect.
So far, crickets.
Rolfe.