Gun Politics In The United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom firearms are tightly controlled by law, and while there is opposition to existing legislation from shooting organisations, there is little wider political debate, and no strong public opposition to control. The United Kingdom historically had one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world even before gun control legislation became stricter from the late twentieth century. In The United Kingdom there are 0.22 recorded intentional homicides committed with a firearm per 100,000 inhabitants; for comparison, the figure for the United States was 3.0, and for Germany 0.2.
With the exception of Northern Ireland, most police officers in the United Kingdom do not routinely carry firearms outside of tasers However, there were just under 7,000 armed officers in 2009, they carry semi-automatic carbines, and pistols; the Heckler & Koch MP5SF, and Glock 17 were most usually used although a range of weapons are available.
Read more about Gun Politics In The United Kingdom: Shooting Sports, Rampage Killings, Impact of Firearm Legislation, History of Gun Control in The United Kingdom, Firearms Crime
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“As for fowling, during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I was studying ornithology, and sought only new or rare birds. But I confess that I am now inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this. It requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds, that, if for that reason only, I have been willing to omit the gun.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every feminine citizen of these United States wore an artificial posy on her coat or gown. I came home and ripped off every one of the really lovely refrigerator blossoms that were sewn on my own bodices.”
—Carolyn Wells (1862–1942)
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—Louis Aragon (1897–1982)