Reducing guns held in private ownership (or at least ensuring they're kept securely) *does* help with gun crime though. It's simple market forces, really - make them harder to get, and you'll reduce the number of people who'll get access to them - and in general, it's easier to break into someone's house than it is to do a deal with the Russian Mafia. So as always, the people who *really* want them can get them, but your average burglar probably won't be able to get them easily.

Re deer-hunting, as Dazbo says, deer-keeping in the UK is mostly a Scottish thing, and the Scottish Highlands are mostly tree-free, giving you a massive open approach to the deer. So whatever you're going to shoot a deer with, it'll need to cover a good quarter-mile accurately and with enough energy to kill at the other end, because the deer aren't going to let you get any closer.

Graham.