... there are a great number of shooters in the UK. Pretty much anyone can get a gun, they just have to provide proof of the need. Hunting and target shooting are the most acceptable needs, self-defence is specifically listed as NOT a valid reason to own a firearm. To prove need, you have to join and pay dues to a shooting association and local gun club.
Firearms in the UK are put into categories -- shotguns and BB guns are more simple to obtain than centre-fire rifles. Since 1997 Semi-automatics of any caliber and handguns being nearly impossible to obtain a permit. Olympic pistol-shooters are prohibited from training for their sport anywhere in the UK. Cowboy action shooting is increasingly popular in the UK because it gives citizens a valid reason to own handguns (cap and ball, single-action revolvers ONLY).
There are strict laws on how the weapons must be secured in the home (gun safe, physically attached to the building structure), ammunition in a separately locked container. Guns carried on the person (only to and from hunting or the range) must be locked, ammunition secured separately (in some cases, bolt removed and padlock through the breech). Police have lists of all firearms owned by citizens and can (and do) make unannounced spot-checks to verify that all firearms are secured.
Despite these draconian laws and restrictions - firearm crimes in the UK have been steadily on the increase (more than 11,000 in 2011)
The British Journal of Criminology report from 2011 show no reduction in gun-related deaths or crimes since the introduction of harsher gun laws in 1997.
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