Re Nigel Parsons, if a Brit has a professional use for a shotgun or rifle (ie. pest control) then they're perfectly at liberty to own one and keep it at home (locked in a gun cabinet). If a Brit enjoys target shooting, they're perfectly at liberty to own a shotgun/rifle/handgun, so long as it's stored at their gun club with appropriate security.

What's not allowed is automatic weapons in any shape or form, or handguns stored at home, or any other guns stored at home if you don't have some professional use for them. The reason: most criminals get access to guns by robbing gun owners. They could rob the gun club, but a club has the resources to provide significantly better security.

Britain has the advantage though that we've got a physical border (water) between us and mainland Europe. In continental Europe, it's significantly easier to bring stuff over the borders, and guns are readily available in Eastern Europe.

Bottom line though, Europeans mostly believe in gun control. Anyone who _really_ wants a gun can get one, if they want it bad enough; the idea of gun control is just to stop every petty criminal from owning one. Most violent crimes don't make the paper, but there's many more ppl affected by these.

Graham.