You wouldn't really believe this....
Up until the 1970s or 80S(I think,but can't be sure.)Small-bore target ranges were common sights in many leisure and sports centres in the UK and indeed in many Public Schools(both bording and ordinary.)But nowdays such centres that once had these wonderful facilities,have now either long since shut down or have had the ranges removed.The only places where you can use small-bore weapons thesedays, is in clubs or in shooting-leisure centres like the Lord Roberts Centre in Bisley.
Barry George-the eccentric weirdo who was convicted of murdering British tv presenter Jill Dando-went to a bording school for children with behavioural problems.In 1971 that school built a small-bore weapon range for pupil and staff usage.Unfortuantely kids talk as you well know and when some of parents herd from their kids that the range was built,some of them began to complain to the school about allowing kids to use guns etc,etc-so the range closed down in the following year-in 1972.
It was likely that Barry George used the range for classwork and recreational use and where some believed he developed his passion in guns.The gun he used to alledgedly murder Dando with was-I think- a converted Bruni Colt 1911A1 8mm,blank-firing gun and the bullet was a remington-made 9mm short-bullet-that was believed he stole from a gun club,following the dissolution of some clubs,several months after the Dunblane massacre.Note that this case has been used in campaigns against blank-firing guns.Even Senator Robert Kennedy's assasination-was used as propaganda by the GCN antis,to discourage handgun ownership in the UK.You will find that the handgun ban is listed on their website,as one of their greatest achievements to date.
Its hard to explain why people in the UK hate guns,but I doubt that it has to do with the influence of anti-gun propaganda,generated supposidly by the government.The UK is small compared with the USA and Australia and most citizens,like the one that DevLcL questioned about gun-control,are either generally not bothered about weapons ownership or are against private-weapons ownership.Those sheep left themselves open to attacks from the antis,who would easily get them to join their cause.That is one of the reasons why-I think-you will find that most people don't want them in the UK and that is civillians talking not polititions.Us UK posters here that were born and raised in that wonderful country
, were and are not brain-washed by our government at all.The pressure came from the antis-who were a sizeable majority and there are pro-shooters from all walks of life as well.
:banghead:
There are still however,a large percentage of the UK population,who still are ignorant of the gun-laws in the UK and if told about them,they would want them banned.If you're a gun owner in the UK thesedays,basically the cops and fellow citizens might think you might or might not be a timebomb waiting to explode-by shooting up a selected town or even a designated building,as demonstrated by mentally-unstable individuals-who caused killing-sprees in past- gun massacres.