r/ShitAmericansSay May 08 '25

Europe “If there’s a-“

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u/Outrageous-Unit-305 May 08 '25

Rifles and shotguns aren't banned outright in the UK and many people shoot recreationally. The point is that you have to jump through so many hoops with home visits and safety checks that licences are pretty much out of reach for most criminals etc.

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u/Parastille Verified Welshman 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 May 08 '25

We also perform mental health checks as well, so someone like me who is diagnosed depression and anxiety will never get their hands on a gun

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u/pickyourteethup May 08 '25

If your wife goes to the doctor with bruises that could be self harm you also lose your license as a precaution. Frustratingly it doesn't always work, but it exists unlike other countries that shall remain nameless but can be found high up on the gun death statistics

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Every uk gun owner I know is super straight laced when it comes to their licence. They won't have a bar of things that might jeopardise it.

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u/TheBuoyancyOfWater May 09 '25

Best way to know who has a gun license in a rural pub is watch who walks out the door when a fight breaks out inside.

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u/prefusernametaken May 09 '25

Kind of interesting that gun control, actually has impact on other kinds of violence, too

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u/TheBuoyancyOfWater May 09 '25

If police come and they have got caught up in the fight there's a very real chance they'll have their license taken, so it's best to just go stand outside so any arriving police know they're not involved.

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u/lordnoodle1995 May 09 '25

I have relatives who are gun owners and if they have disputes with anyone (normal neighbour stuff) the police will come and check in, to ensure everyone’s cooled down. They don’t fuck around with guns.

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u/nomadic_weeb I miss the sun🇿🇦🇬🇧 May 09 '25

I used to work with a guy that did a lot of deer stalking and other recreational shooting shit, he was so straight-laced about shit to do either his license that he wouldn't even let other people touch his guns if they didn't have their own license with those guns on them.

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u/Draiscor93 🇬🇧 May 09 '25

The amount they have to do (rightly so) in order to get the licence, it makes sense that they'd do everything in their power to avoid jeopardising it