President Obama's quite minor change to US gun sales regulations in 2016 has inspired me to write about the state of gun laws in the United Kingdom. We do not have the right to bear weapons, and that distinguishes us from the citizens of the United States,but we can apply for a licence to own certain kinds of gun. I don't believe or feel that my freedom is in any way restricted by this limitation, and I am in no way unhappy with it.My freedom is what allows me to flourish, and I have flourished quite well without the possession of a firearm.
I own an air rifle, a single shot weapon that was for shooting rats. It shoots pellets. This is perfectly legal and I needed no licence for it. I did not need to inform the police of the matter. Britons are allowed to own an air rifle that fires more than one shot, a repeating rifle, without seeking permission. But, there is a restriction, for there is a kind of air rifle that that needs a licence. This is one that is supercharged by a carbon dioxide cartridge.
However, there are limitations as to what I can do. I am not allowed to fire any gun within five metres of a road, and I am forbidden to discharge a pellet or bullet that leaves my own personal ground. Britons are only allowed to shoot any weapon on land for which they have shooting rights. Moreover, if a Briton even points an air weapon in someone's direction it is illegal, and when an air weapon is fired at a person it legally becomes a firearm and the punishment is applied accordingly.
Britons are allowed to own shotguns, if they obtain a licence from the police, who must assess the suitability of the applicant to own a weapon. Applicants with a criminal record or a history of mental problems are rejected. The police determine whether your ability to store the weapon and ammunition is suitable, for it must be a secure metal cabinet, and the gun must be kept separately from the ammunition. The police can check any time they wish, and a few years ago they confiscated the guns of an aristocrat who was found to have a loaded shotgun in the house that was not within its cabinet. Two errors here, a gun improperly stored and kept loaded. The police can confiscate guns if an owner is deemed to be no longer suitable to keep them.
Hunting rifles are permitted, but fewer Britons than Americans need them, as we have less wild land than America does and fewer large animals to be hunted. Deer and wild boar are the only ones. To obtain a hunting rifle you must first have a shotgun licence and the rules for storing both types of gun are the same.
Antique firearms may be owned, but are subject to the same rules as other guns. Those kept by collectors must be rendered harmless, maybe by having the barrels blocked up and/or firing mechanisms de-activated.
When being transported in a public place a gun must be in a safe container and unloaded.
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Comments
A shot gun can be used for hunting vermin. You have to prove to the police that you are a fit and proper person to own a gun. If you have a shotgun licence you can apply for a rifle licence, but this does not extend to automatic weapons. An air rifle is permitted without a licence, but not one with a gas cartridge to power the shot. A sawn off shotgun is never permitted to anyone.handguns of any kind are not permitted. Antique weapons are permitted in museums and collections,butnthey must be disabled.
The first paragraph to the first subheading, Legal weapons, advises us that eastern-ponders, unlike western-ponders, historically do not have the right to carry weapons.
The British Isles nevertheless allows one to apply for the right to carry a "certain kind of gun."
What might that kind be and what purpose -- hunting? -- might warrant its legal use?
In my time working sometimes in secondary schools in rough East Manchester I have had at times to confiscate weapons, such as machetes, but never have I wanted to carry a fire arm and never needed to.
As a British teacher of nearly 39 years, I would never ever use a gun or indeed carry one in class or anywhere else. In UK we can not carry arms and have very very little gun crime.
Also our schools are like fortresses and no one can get in except through the shielded office. The schools are surrounded by high fences and inside they have electronic key pads or scanners on corridors and doors. Quite right too.
As a retired teacher I am aghast at the suggestion that teachers should be armed. I would never have wanted it. Leave that sort of thing to police and the armed forces, and my wife, still a part time primary teacher, feels the same.
The pointless shooting in Las Vegas was as the president said evil. But I ask the question: why did the man need ten rifles? Even for hunting, while you might need different ones, ten is excessive. Furthermore, the police say that Paddock had altered them to fire automatically, but why is it possible to purchase rifles that can be thus adapted?
I did discover that the assassin of the member of parliament had a weapon that was homemade.He bought the plans to construct it from some of his contacts among American right wing extremists. There is no way of preventing such malice, though such weapons are always illegal.
Carrying a firearm depends on the situation. I cannot carry one as only military and police in this country can hold such right. I think that the situation in the USA is such that humans can be oppressed by gun laws.
I read that British law is similar to Canada, they can own a firearm but they can only use it in their home or property, they do not have the right to carry. I have no problem with applying for a license to get a gun, nor do I have a problem with mandatory gun handling and safety certificate requirement, BUT I do not want my right to carry taken away from me in the USA
Some of you might have heard of the recent assassination of a British member of parliament by an alleged right wing extremist [16th June 2016. ] This innocent female was shot with an illegally held weapon that had a shortened barrel, so it is also an illegal type of weapon. Gun laws have no control over this, but even had the victim been permitted a gun,the assassin took her by surprise and gave her no chance.