It hasn't always been difficult or illegal to own guns in the UK. At the time the US Constitution was adopted the law was essentially the same back here, and for well over a century. But aside from sporting toffs and farmers with shotguns, very few people were too. Interested in having guns, and there was no significant opposition as the law giot toughened up.

After the Dunblane massacre the popular demand for a heavy clampdown of all handguns was of course irresistible.