There are some very interesting comments here. I’m in the UK and I’m a former Royal Air Force Marksman having proved my ability many years ago and each following year during my 27 years service on the Browning 9mm pistol, SLR rifle, Sterling sub-machine gun and the old Le Enfield 303 rifle. I also won the RAF Sporting Clay Pigeon championship back in 1987 and I’m what Americans call a hunter. Now as most gun owners in the USA should know, the UK has one of the most stringent criteria for gun ownership in the world. Pistols and auto weapons in very small numbers of course get smuggled into the UK by the criminal element. However our police are very good at containing their use. From the records I receive from the stateside weekly, there is more deaths and wounding from firearms in one of your small city’s than there is in the whole of the UK in a year.So I thank God that we have such gun controls in the UK and our stringent police vetting procedures. On application for a shotgun or hunting rifle, the police check to see if you have a criminal record and do other background medical checks with your registered doctor. They also call at you house and check to see that the cabinet is of the government approved type with the 7-lever mortis locks or dial combination lock. Your ammo must also be stored away from the gun cabinet in an approved locked ammo safe. The police can also come to your house at anytime unannounced and have a right of entry to check that you are following the correct procedures.
While I cannot see that these procedures will ever take place in the USA, something must be done to vet and control the type of person that is allowed to hold a firearm in America otherwise such tragedies will keep occurring.
There are some very interesting comments here. I’m in the UK and I’m a former Royal Air Force Marksman having proved my ability many years ago and each following year during my 27 years service on the Browning 9mm pistol, SLR rifle, Sterling sub-machine gun and the old Le Enfield 303 rifle. I also won the RAF Sporting Clay Pigeon championship back in 1987 and I’m what Americans call a hunter. Now as most gun owners in the USA should know, the UK has one of the most stringent criteria for gun ownership in the world. Pistols and auto weapons in very small numbers of course get smuggled into the UK by the criminal element. However our police are very good at containing their use. From the records I receive from the stateside weekly, there is more deaths and wounding from firearms in one of your small city’s than there is in the whole of the UK in a year.So I thank God that we have such gun controls in the UK and our stringent police vetting procedures. On application for a shotgun or hunting rifle, the police check to see if you have a criminal record and do other background medical checks with your registered doctor. They also call at you house and check to see that the cabinet is of the government approved type with the 7-lever mortis locks or dial combination lock. Your ammo must also be stored away from the gun cabinet in an approved locked ammo safe. The police can also come to your house at anytime unannounced and have a right of entry to check that you are following the correct procedures.
While I cannot see that these procedures will ever take place in the USA, something must be done to vet and control the type of person that is allowed to hold a firearm in America otherwise such tragedies will keep occurring.