Poll: UK Gun Laws

  • Thread starter Thread starter NVP
  • Start date Start date

Should civilians have access to weapons?

  • Yes - Current law is fine, no changes needed

  • No - Only "Professional" users can be licensed

  • No - Remove all guns from Civilians

  • Yes - Current laws are too restrictive


Results are only viewable after voting.
A compound bow of the type you are referring too are WAY MORE dangerous if used for some sort of mass casualty event.
Look at what happened in Europe a year or two ago with that bloke running around with one.

Indeed and relatively cheap too, packs of carbon bolts are not expensive, some out there easily bed into brick etc, you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side when it goes off.
 
That said part of me feels that the gun should be left locked up at a gun club perhaps with a log of who signs it out etc?

One side of that is making gun clubs a target for criminals - there has been a recent spate of retail break-ins in the UK for instance where the gang involved has literally Hatton Garden Job'd their way into multiple businesses just to steal a few 1000s worth of iphones and laptops, etc. in that respect it is better not to have guns concentrated in one place.
 
I don’t think any general member of the public needs a gun. A farmer having a gun for pest control I will accept. Gun ranges for sport I will also accept but the guns (or ammo) should be kept there. No need to have these in your home.

Why a headmistresses husband needs a shotgun in a school house is beyond me but I’m pretty certain there’s no good reason for it to be there and the law needs changed if this was a legally allowed thing.

Ban all guns from the general public and limit them to professionals (pest control professionals/some farmers) and shooting clubs. The guns I see them firing in the olympics are very different to the guns you see being used in gun crime so I’d limit the gun clubs to those types.
I’m also against hunting, so no reason to have guns for that.
 
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One side of that is making gun clubs a target for criminals - there has been a recent spate of retail break-ins in the UK for instance where the gang involved has literally Hatton Garden Job'd their way into multiple businesses just to steal a few 1000s worth of iphones and laptops, etc. in that respect it is better not to have guns concentrated in one place.

Yes that's a fair comment. Wonder if it's safer than not? But yes probably risk / benefit case there.

But criminals don't struggle to get guns anyway but I guess this could make these places targets.
 
I still can’t believe there’s no controls on crossbows tbh

One of my great grandmothers was blinded by and almost killed by a high power catapult many many years ago.

I remember as a kid we went on a walk once on a out of town country park walk and there was a bunch of lads messing about with crossbows and high power catapults - didn't feel safe at all. IIRC one of them did actually come up to us as we were leaving and apologise but on the news they'd been shooting at a farmer's stock and left an animal injured.
 
Yes that's a fair comment. Wonder if it's safer than not? But yes probably risk / benefit case there.

But criminals don't struggle to get guns anyway but I guess this could make these places targets.

I think the idea they’ll become more likely to be targeting a bit off. There have been a few reports of people robbing gun shops, but it’s not particularly common. I’d also suggest they have pretty good deterrents. You don’t hear many banks being robbed for their money as it’s well protected. ATM raids happen but when was the last time a vault was robbed? Surely gun shops can have similar levels of protection .
 
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..A farmer having a gun for pest control I will accept.

I think that needs tightening up too. An actual farm owner should be the only one who can get a licence easily. Not just becuase you work at a farm. If you don't own a farm then you need a special licence and training and so on to be in registered pest control.
 
I think the idea they’ll become more likely to be targeting a bit off. There have been a few reports of people robbing gun shops, but it’s not particularly common. I’d also suggest they have pretty good deterrents. You don’t hear many banks being robbed for their money as it’s well protected. ATM raids happen but when was the last time a vault was robbed?

Again fair point. I know more about ATM thefts than gun shop thefts. And ATM thefts are barely worth the effort these days, and as you say bank robberies and security van robberies are very rare by nature of the security measures.

I like your idea of separating the ammunition..
 
I think the idea they’ll become more likely to be targeting a bit off. There have been a few reports of people robbing gun shops, but it’s not particularly common. I’d also suggest they have pretty good deterrents. You don’t hear many banks being robbed for their money as it’s well protected. ATM raids happen but when was the last time a vault was robbed? Surely gun shops can have similar levels of protection .

There are easier targets than banks if you are after money/high valuables. A few years ago or maybe in future it will be different but we are seeing a rise in organised gangs at the moment capable of sophisticated robberies - in the last 2 months for instance approx. 23 retailers have been attempted to or broken into by the same group*, including breaking through reinforced walls and multiple layers to get into premises just to steal a few 1000s worth of iphones, etc. some of these groups are increasingly going after things like firearms.

I might be wrong but I highly suspect concentrated amounts of firearms would result in getting a bit too much of the wrong kind of attention.

(Generally criminals in this country tend to stay away from firearms due to the attention it brings down on them, but that seems to be slowly changing lately possibly due to an increase in foreign criminals).


* For some reason they are keeping it pretty quiet https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/new...le-burglary---eight-arrests-nationwide-raids/ they've done a bunch of places including the likes of Currys not just Argos.
 
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There are easier targets than banks if you are after money/high valuables. A few years ago or maybe in future it will be different but we are seeing a rise in organised gangs at the moment capable of sophisticated robberies - in the last 2 months for instance approx. 23 retailers have been attempted to or broken into by the same group*, including breaking through reinforced walls and multiple layers to get into premises just to steal a few 1000s worth of iphones, etc. some of these groups are increasingly going after things like firearms.

I might be wrong but I highly suspect concentrated amounts of firearms would result in getting a bit too much of the wrong kind of attention.


* For some reason they are keeping it pretty quiet https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/new...le-burglary---eight-arrests-nationwide-raids/ they've done a bunch of places including the likes of Currys not just Argos.

When I ran security for COOP's solar farms, we would regularly have the same groups setup over months to try and steal all the gear. It required constant surveillance to catch them out.

Its a lot of work, I can't imagine the work having to track inner city gangs doing the same considering how underfunded our forces are in some regions.
 
American is on the right lines with regard gun laws. We have it wrong.

If an intruder enters my home armed with a gun, how am I supposed to defend myself?

If our government turns tyrannical, how is the population supposed to fight against the oppression?
 
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Your nickname seems more appropriate for this than mine :D

Thank you for clarifying.
Surely traps and boundaries can be used to combat this though.

Thanks for giving a justifiable reason, one of the only ones I've seen in this thread! Didnt appreciate the spice to go with it though. Traps could be used to combat this though surely?

This is the part we should all focus on to control this.
There is a small amount of people who may require a gun to be on site and at the property. But for all those in the name of sport or fun, why should it come home with you?

Unfortunately traps are considered less humane as they can be trapped but have to be killed once caught (Setting them free in another area is just moving the problem on) and the quickest way to do that is to snap their necks. Also traps can go off and rather than capturing the rabbit can cause damage and a slow death. Often its not feasible to set a load of traps and check them daily/weekly so the rabbits can starve to death. Shooting them is a quick, humane way to get rid of wild rabbits and is even endorsed by the RSPCA.
 
I don’t think any general member of the public needs a gun. A farmer having a gun for pest control I will accept. Gun ranges for sport I will also accept but the guns (or ammo) should be kept there. No need to have these in your home.

Why a headmistresses husband needs a shotgun in a school house is beyond me but I’m pretty certain there’s no good reason for it to be there and the law needs changed if this was a legally allowed thing.

Ban all guns from the general public and limit them to professionals (pest control professionals/some farmers) and shooting clubs. The guns I see them firing in the olympics are very different to the guns you see being used in gun crime so I’d limit the gun clubs to those types.
I’m also against hunting, so no reason to have guns for that.
A typical clay shoot range has little more than a shed in terms of buildings. How the hell are you going to securely store guns in a shed? Gun safes need to be securely bolted to a permanent structure.
 
I think that needs tightening up too. An actual farm owner should be the only one who can get a licence easily. Not just becuase you work at a farm. If you don't own a farm then you need a special licence and training and so on to be in registered pest control.

There are different licenses.

You can get plenty of pest control firearms without a license, they register the gun to you in the shop but that's about it, obviously depends on the size of the pest.

There is your basic shotgun license which is for shoots and clay etc, your limited to max 3 cartridges, ie shotguns usually take two carts and pumps on a shotgun license are limited to one in the chamber and max two lined up.

Then you got firearms license which is much harder to get, removes the 3 cart limit and opens up a lot more options including various rifles, including FAC rated air rifles etc.
 
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