Reply #11

outside of certain small groups such as landowners, criminal and gun fanatics. In the more turbulent past ordinary people tended to carry non lethal instruments of self defence such as the quarter staff. The only exception was really the late 14th and 15 Centuries when the crown mandated that men must practise with the longbow for war. Even during the occasional rebellion most weapons were improvised from agricultural implements such as bill hooks (in fact many weapons on the medieval battle field originated on the farm). It is the latter point where attempts by the authorities to police potential weapons other than fire arms hits difficulties since there are a huge number of everyday objects such as building tools, gardening implements and kitchen utensils which can be potentially lethal if misused. It is simply not practical to ban them all

This wiki link gives a pretty good precis of the English Laws attitude to arms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_keep_and_bear_arms#United_Kingdom