"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...
I believe that to be only a recent (i.e. past century) issue. Until WW2
I
think it was legal for UK residents to own firearms,

I owned firearms until 1997. Still could now, shotguns, rifles or
repeating handguns, if I had the time and spare cash.

I meant without restriction and licencing.

That's its design role, just as the role of a sword is to kill people
(hence no more sports fencing) and the bow had no purpose other than
turning living creatures into dead meat (so no more archery either).

For that matter, let's ban the javelin from athletics (throwing spears
were only ever designed for killing!).

I have no problem with offensive weapons in sport. I'm not against ownership
either, so long as you can guarantee responsibility. But, bear in mind
you're going to get in serious trouble walking down the road with a bow,
sword, or even a javelin in the UK these days. As it happens I think the
government was dead wrong in banning the legal ownership of handguns for
sport. It was complete overkill driven by media hysteria.

Being a Brit myself, I actually wish we did have the right to bear arms,
at
least on our own property, and the legal back up to use them if
necessary.

Closer than you might think now, tabloid hysteria notwithstanding.

Don't know about that. It would take such a shift in the legal rights of
home owners to enable them to use a potential deadly force in defence of
their property, and I just don't see a change in the law coming that'll stop
favouring criminals. (I think the government's too worried about loosing out
on all that VAT they get from burglary victims having to go out and buy new
appliances.. :-)

For the moment, in the UK the overall view is different. Personally, I'd
be happy with much more widespread ownership provided that ownership
equalled responsibility: your weapon, your job to keep it secure. You
want a weapon, it lives on your person or else properly secured. You
fire that weapon, you're responsible for every round leaving the barrel.
Not popular here, and oddly enough it seems to be very unpopular in the
US for very different reasons

I agree with you, but it comes down to: I'd be happy for everyone to own a
gun if I new that they were as responsible as I know I am! But then there's
no test for respect or responsibility and sooner or later kids will get
access to the guns carefully stored in their parents' safes, and the genie
would be out of the bottle here as well. Trouble is that it's a one-way
massive culture and legal shift, and it's much easier for society and
government to try and cope with the status quo rather than open Pandora's
Box.

Si