The gun laws, as far as I am aware, lists most cartridge weapons under Section 1 - illegal firearms. You can apply for a gun license if you want to shoot game on your own land, go target shooting, or are in a field that requires it, i.e an armed police officer or large animal veterinary surgeon.

You are not allowed to use such a fire-arm to attack or defend yourself, nor is it permitted outside of its designated area of use.

What I meant by the Afghanistan comment was more to do with principle than the technicalities of a terrorist regime.

Quote Originally Posted by RICHARD View Post

The 'danger' of guns is the idiots who can't be trusted to handle-no, I take that back-it's the idiots who see a picture of a guy with a gun and begin to panic.

They don't trust themselves to handle a firearm, so the project their ineptness, mistrust and inability to even touch a gun, onto everyone they see who openly carries a firearm.
I don't consider myself an idiot for thinking that if I bumped into someone with a rifle on their back that I'd run a mile. No, I can't handle a firearm, but I also can't jump 10 feet in the air.

In my lifetime, I can recall many tragedies involving firearms from the US. I can't recall half as much that have occurred in the UK. People walking into public areas and opening fire at random would shake this nation to its core.

Quote Originally Posted by RICHARD

Most of the time we have to worry about the cops -trained professionals-who shoot a guy 40 times and if they happen to shoot and kill a bystander, oh well, too bad.

It's part of the job!
When Jean Charles de Menezes was shot on the London Underground in 2005, shortly after the London bombings, it certainly wasn't met with a reaction of 'oh well, it's part of the job!'. There have been endless enquiries and lawsuits and police apologies over the issue. But perhaps the difference is because the effect of guns is so much more abhorred over here, and, as you like to put it, we don't take kindly to 'packing heat'.