Derek Bernard is a businessman based in the Island of Jersey. Although interested and active in target shooting from 1948 to 1979, he assumed that the constant refrain that""strict gun control" was a civilised necessity, must be substantially true. Surely the government, police and media would not repeat it so often if it were not true?
In 1979, however, he decided to try and understand the complex firearm laws (which he had never even read up to that point) and, further, attempt to determine which of the many control mechanisms in the law, actually produced the social benefits.
After 3 years of reading, writing and research he was forced -- with a considerable sense of shock -- to the conclusion that there were no measurable benefits to any of the control mechanisms, either individually or collectively. A further 27 years of amateur work in the field has greatly reinforced those conclusions.