Yes, it is sad, Steve.
And because there are fewer legal firearms in Britain ( I strongly suspect that the number of illegal firearms has not decreased - how could you count them?), violence committed with knives has escalated and now the government is banning many of those, including pointy kitchen knives. Even pocket knives of the boy scout variety have restrictions. It is a slippery slope of false security that I think your country is sliding on - I suspect that the long salad tongs may be next on the list. How will you be able to chop up a potato to make chips ? Eventually you'll be left with having to justify a pair of scissors in the household or keeping an axe to chop firewood. I am sure that your local police office is next door, though - things are much closer together in general, in Europe. And your government knows what is best for you. I think that we can generally agree that our US government doesn't necessarily know what is best for anybody, and we American citizens are generally quite more comfortable with having to fend for ourselves more often than European citizens. Our town only has a couple police officers to cover about 35 square miles. And, they don't work on weekends - our police "coverage" as it where, must come from the next town over on weekends, when they can be spared.
I own firearms (of all varieties) primarily for hunting, and secondarily for defense and target shooting. I regularly hike into the mountains were we have plenty of bear, coyotes, wolves, and the occasional mountain lion and carry a handgun for defense, and for procuring food and signaling for help if I become lost and have to fend for myself for a few days. In self defense, I will not shoot any animal, regardless of how many legs it walks on, unless it comes down to it or me, but, I have had to come very close on at least one occasion - and that was the time that I WASN'T carrying a handgun. Fortunately, the rabid coyote (our coyotes are about 60-70 pounds in this part of the country) buggered off after we stared intensely at each other for a few minutes from about 10 feet away. Handguns have a very legitimate purpose for personal protection - anyone who thinks otherwise hasn't realized how much more energy it takes to pack an 8 pound rifle on a 20 mile hike than an 1.5 pound handgun. It also invites very negative reactions when one does encounter another person out on the trail, especially if it is a conservation officer and there is no open hunting season at the time. They would NEVER believe that one was luggin around a rifle while hiking for "personal protection". They are perfectly at ease if they see a handgun in a holster, or in my case, nothing at all. IF they ask if I am carrying a concealed firearm I will tell them yes and show them my concealed carry license, which indicates the police have checked my history and background, acquaintances, etc. and deemed me safe and one of the good guys. I think that as long as we have good people and bad people in the world, there will be issues, but even without bad people, there are still legitimate reasons for owning firearms - of both short and long types. I don't "arm up" to defend against some un-named bogeyman, but I do have a variety of tools that happen to be firearms that I use for perfectly logical and useful purposes, and which can, if necessary be employed for purposes of self protection in the event of true need. I hope that I never have to use a firearm for purposes of self defense, but wishing about it won't make it so, and as a responsible gun-owning citizen, I am trained and willing to bear the responsibilities that come with owning firearms. In the case of defense against humans, often one doesn't even need to fire a shot, and I think that none of us here has any delusions about reliving something that happened in the Old West over a hundred years ago.
I find it very silly to watch shows from the BBC-America channel that we receive and see all the firearms being carried by non-law enforcement personnel in Britain. My wife and I say, "Obviously, that could never happen, so why do they show it?" Of course, it is TV and purely fictional entertainment, but why bother when there must be a bobby or two with more than a pointed stick at your immediate service ?
I am sure that this is but one of many things that we can agree to disagree on, but that is perfectly OK and there are many many other things which we call have in common and do agree on, including BMW airheads ! So, let us focus more on the joys of motorcycles, and good beer - even if you may like yours a little bit closer to room temperature than we do !
