Rifles still allowed in Britain?

[SUBMAN1]

I thought all firearms were outlawed out there?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5209632.stm

-S

[Kapitan]

Nope you can have a bolt action rifle normaly a .22 or .308 you can have a shotgun, i own an AK47S (deactivated of course) i also own many other rifles.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

Nope you can have a bolt action rifle normaly a .22 or .308 you can have a shotgun, i own an AK47S (deactivated of course) i also own many other rifles.

Weird that a rifle is allowed since it could be considered an offensive weapon, but a hadgun which is purely a defensive short ranged weapon is not. I guess this is to appease the deer hunters.

-S

[lesrae]

We have the ridiculous situation here where target pistols are banned, so our olympic team have to go abroad to train :O( Not quite sure how they're going to manage that one in 2012.

[Godalmighty83]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Weird that a rifle is allowed since it could be considered an offensive weapon, but a hadgun which is purely a defensive short ranged weapon is not. I guess this is to appease the deer hunters.

-S

you call a handgun a defensive weapon but in reality (at least here) they are the type that are mostly used in crimes, its also an issue of concealment, walking around with a rfile in the middle of a town centre makes you a obvious target to our trigger happy armed police therefore isnt as appealing to crooks as handguns that can be hidden.

call handguns a purely defensive weapon to the many people who have lost family members to them.

[this isnt a dig at you, just the us classification of handguns as a 'defence']

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Godalmighty83

you call a handgun a defensive weapon but in reality (at least here) they are the type that are mostly used in crimes, its also an issue of concealment, walking around with a rfile in the middle of a town centre makes you a obvious target to our trigger happy armed police therefore isnt as appealing to crooks as handguns that can be hidden.

call handguns a purely defensive weapon to the many people who have lost family members to them.

[this isnt a dig at you, just the us classification of handguns as a 'defence']

I hear ya, but a handgun is useless at any real range. I have several myself and if you think your going to hit anything reliably with it over a rifle, well think again. It is a defensive weapon, that is being employed effectively as an offensive weapon in your case. The reason it is being successful too is that people think that the guy in question won't miss (hollywood has a role here), and grovel vs taking action. My bets are, since it is a banned weapon, that he has no training with it and can't hit squat! So I'd be apt to just run away!

-S

[tycho102]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Weird that a rifle is allowed since it could be considered an offensive weapon, but a hadgun which is purely a defensive short ranged weapon is not. I guess this is to appease the deer hunters.

-S

About every 3 years, there's a push to outlaw rifles. It's kind of interesting because there's been so many armed crimes that, just within the past 4 years, there have been several drives (by cops, no less) to start carrying sidearms. I guess they were routinely facing AK-47's on the street, and at the height of the "crisis", losing an officer a month.

Policing by consent. Only in a British context (i.e. Redcoats, massed formations, take your bullet like a man, etc) could I even begin to fathom that concept.

[TteFAboB]

Not deer, but fox.

Fox hunting with cute Beagle dogs was outlawed and replaced by rifle hunting.

Yes, there are so many NGO's and victims and causes and humanitarians going around sometimes they clash and contradict each other. They can't find enough time to plan their combined actions and coordinate even though they want to engineer the entire society.

In this case, enviromentalists got the upper hand, by pure accident.

But returning to contradiction: 40 Beagles versus 1 Fox was silly indeed, but that's more natural than a bullet to the heart, isn't it? Not only that, now there are hundreds of former hunting Dogs waiting at animal shelters for euthanasia.

Save one Fox, kill 39 dogs.

Good thing animal protectors know their maths.

Oops, wait, there's already one bullet for every Fox out there, let me rephrase that:

Save none Fox, kill 39 dogs.

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by TteFAboB

Not deer, but fox.

Fox hunting with cute Beagle dogs was outlawed and replaced by rifle hunting.

Yes, there are so many NGO's and victims and causes and humanitarians going around sometimes they clash and contradict each other. They can't find enough time to plan their combined actions and coordinate even though they want to engineer the entire society.

In this case, enviromentalists got the upper hand, by pure accident.

But returning to contradiction: 40 Beagles versus 1 Fox was silly indeed, but that's more natural than a bullet to the heart, isn't it? Not only that, now there are hundreds of former hunting Dogs waiting at animal shelters for euthanasia.

Save one Fox, kill 39 dogs.

Good thing animal protectors know their maths.

Oops, wait, there's already one bullet for every Fox out there, let me rephrase that:

Save none Fox, kill 39 dogs.

Hahahaha! Don't make me laugh! Sad though.

-S

[badhat17]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

I thought all firearms were outlawed out there?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5209632.stm

-S

Why did you think that ?

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by badhat17

Why did you think that ?

I was just under the impression that all firearms were outlawed in Britain. At least they get to keep their rifles. I guess an AR-15 is out of the question?

-S

[badhat17]

Well you must have got that impression from somewhere and I am interested to find out where as I hear it so often it's starting to worry me.

The prohibited list is large and is not likely to get any smaller as gun control is a one way street but the following link should make plain exactly what is still permitted in Great Britain, note that the law in Northen Ireland is different.



http://www.met.police.uk/firearms-en...s/f_prohb1.htm

[SUBMAN1]

OMG! You can't even have a CO2 pistol or rifle? How is that any worse than a .22?

Also - no pump shotguns! No plinking with anything other than a .22 due to this statement:
Common sense dictates that there are many types of firearms, especially those designed for military use, that have no place in the sporting field or hobby of shooting.

The best plinkers in my book are military styled rifles! .22 is kind of pointless and boring!

The one legal handgun - a 9mm revolver! Scratch that - 1800's muzzle loader is also excepted!

Anyway, thats a tough deal. That is like looking your citizens in the eye and telling them that they are children and not able to handle grown up things! Sorry, but I'd move!

-S

[badhat17]

Plinking ? That sounds like irresponsible behaviour and I wouldn't mention that if you ever apply for a cert over here. It does depend where you live to a great extent, some forces are far more sympathetic than others and fortunately my local force is one of those so service rifle is still an option which is plenty enough for me.

[lesrae]

Originally Posted by SUBMAN1

Anyway, thats a tough deal. That is like looking your citizens in the eye and telling them that they are children and not able to handle grown up things! Sorry, but I'd move!

-S

I guess it's down to what you're used to, most people in the UK don't (and never have) own a firearm, so it's no big deal to us. A country with a more deeply ingrained gun culture may see that as restrictive, where we may view their culture as extremely liberal - which is right/wrong is a whole different discussion :O)