Quote:
Originally Posted by DamageW
I'll ask him next time I see him. All I know (he told me this a long time ago) was that there was an amnesty, and all guns had to be handed into to a designated police station before a deadline. As (most of) his pistols were registered he had little choice but to hand them in, and he made no mention of getting anything back for them, quite the opposite, in fact.
He did comment that the firearms officer collecting the weapons (for destruction, he said) was most impressed by some of the items my mate was returning, I think the copper was as unhappy with having to take the things in as my friend was in parting with them.
In any case, it's a simple fact that it is pretty much impossible to legally fire a standard pistol in this country. Black powder is still allowed, and I know you can get extended pistols with fixed stocks which are long enough to qualify as a carbine, but that's about as close as you can get.
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Personally, if I were a British gun owner, I would have just had my weapon deactivated if the option existed (and until recently, deactivated guns used to be easy to buy). I mean, it sucks to not be able to fire a gun, but having a non-firing weapon to at least play around with is better than having no gun whatsoever.
BTW, those new anti-"replica" laws are the worst. When I was in the U.K. (in 2007), I was still able to own an airsoft gun. Now I understand you can't have those unless it's not colored black. I don't think I'll ever study there again...and I was actually planning on getting my Master's there at one point.