nobody, and I mean NOBODY,gets to own a shotgun

Must have been hallucinating when I saw those people clay-pigeon shooting, then. Or farmers out after rabbits.

as it is illegal here to defend yourself against an attack by an aggressor

Since when?

A couple of years ago I was on a jury for a guy who provoked a fight (but didn't throw the first punch). He was getting the worst of it until the other guy fell over and buggered his leg, and the guy on trial kicked him in the face once while he was down, not knowing that he couldn't get back up, and consequently was had up for assault and ABH. We had absolutely crystal-clear instruction from the judge that if we believed this guy thought he was still in danger, what he did was entirely justified and we had to vote not guilty. Conversely, if this guy knew the other guy was down and staying down and was putting the boot in out of malice, we had to find him guilty. The jury was split pretty much evenly so we had to return no verdict, and it never came up again in the papers so I guess the CPS dropped it.

I'm afraid I'm legally not allowed to say which way I voted. But I can say that when I was doing karate, my instructors were quite categorical that you don't just slap someone and hope they stay out of your way afterwards...

In fact, if my girlfriend is caught with a pair of scissors , a pointed comb, or,God forbid, a pocket knife ,in her handbag, she goes on trial for being in possession of an Offensive Weapon

That's fiction not fact.

Graham.