Gun Politics in The United Kingdom

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

Famous quotes containing the words gun, politics, united and/or kingdom:

    Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?
    Harvey Thew, screenwriter, John Bright, screenwriter, and Lowell Sherman. Lady Lou (Mae West)

    The newspaper reader says: this party is destroying itself through such mistakes. My higher politics says: a party that makes such mistakes is finished—it has lost its instinctive sureness.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    I do not know that the United States can save civilization but at least by our example we can make people think and give them the opportunity of saving themselves. The trouble is that the people of Germany, Italy and Japan are not given the privilege of thinking.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
    Bible: New Testament, Matthew 24:7,8.