I don't know anybody who owns a gun. I don't know anybody who would want to own a gun. In the US health care is a privilege and gun ownership is a right. In the UK the opposite is true.

in Scotland the right to bare arms means wearing a T-shirt in January. 😂

One huge difference which is often glossed over: ‘Defence’ is NOT a valid reason to own a gun in the UK

I’m in the UK, don’t know anyone that owns a gun, held a gun, do not know anyone who has fired a gun… I also don’t know anyone learning to use a gun. Have no idea where a gun range would possibly be! I’ve only ever seen armed police in London at major situations and post terror attacks… mostly our police don’t carry guns because we don’t have a huge gun culture in the UK… the knife crime is down to small amounts of communities. We have documentaries about one punch being a killer 😮

What is NOT mentioned is the fact that once you have a firearms certificate, the police can visit your home at any time, unannounced, to carry out a check to ensure that you are conforming to the regulations regarding your certificate. Any breach can result in the loss of that right!

I'm in the UK. I grew up with shotguns and often went grouse and rabbit hunting with my dad. My cousin still owns shotguns and continues to hunt for game. It is not the average but its certainly not unheard of for UK citizens to own guns. The difference is we are not gun zealots - we dont see gun ownership as part of our personality and identity. Guns are tools and like any dangerous tool, they need to be handled and managed as such. In the same way you need to pass a test and have a license to drive a car, a lorry or a forklift, we have similar rules around guns and other potentially dangerous tools.

To quote Oscar Wilde - the right to bear arms is only marginally less stupid than the right to arm bears!

As a Canadian I read the comment stating "in the US health care is a privilege and gun ownership is a right", I agree with this. It is very sad to hear news from America on mass civilian shootings and how disagreements are settled by bringing out a gun , such as the 14 year old boy who shot his sister and then fatally shot his older brother.....it is very very sad!

You cannot apply for a gun license in the UK with the idea of self defence. By saying that you are admitting that in a certain scenario you will point it at someone.

I am an old lady of almost 80. Up until about seven years ago I had a combined shotgun and firearms licence. I have land to keep my horses and poultry on, and needed to be able to control vermin. It was no problem to get my licence as I had a good reason for it, was 'of good character' and my gp had no concerns about my mental health. I bought an approved gun cabinet and had it installed in a suitable place by a recommended installer, then contacted the police who came to inspect my set-up. All was well and I was issued with my licence then bought the shotgun I'd decided on. A few months later, the FO came to do a spot check but I had a friend visiting with their teenage grandchildren. At the front door I told him this, so he made a comment thanking me loudly for a (non-existent) witness statement about a car accident and said goodbye. He came by again a couple of weeks later. I gave up shooting gradually, starting about ten years ago, as my eyesight began to deteriorate. Now a pleasant young man shoots vermin on my land about once or twice a week. I gave him written and signed permission to do so, which he had to show to the police in order to be issued with his licence.

That owning a gun is considered a right in America goes a long way to explaining why the country is in such a mess.

You should watch a video on the Dunblane school massacre to help explain why our gun laws are this way. Tennis player Andy Murray was at the school when it happened. He rarely talks about it but he is understandably upset.

Even in those countries with the most permissive gun regulations, the US is the ONLY one where self-defence is accepted as a valid reason for ownership among the general population. Countries, especially western-style democracies, accept that public safety is a rôle the police force fulfills.

The difference in gun culture is really quite remarkable. I’m from a fairly rural area (Cornwall), and I’ve only ever seen a gun once or twice in my life (excluding museums or other historical experiences), both owned by farmers who live nearby to me. Other than that I don’t know anyone who owns a gun, anyone who wants to, or anyone who has to. It’s so curious how different the UK experience is to Americans

Owning a gun is not a right. It's a responsibility.

Also, I don’t need a gun for self defence, because no one has a gun to shoot me…

The key difference is, most people don't want or feel the need to own a gun

No weapons of any kind are permitted for 'self-defence' in the UK. Whilst you are allowed to defend yourself and if you happen to have a object on you, such as an umbrella, and you use it to defend yourself that is fine, but if you have a specific item to defend yourself it becomes an offensive weapon and therefore illegal. Pepper sprays are also not permitted.

What I do not understand is why children in US also have guns. I remember seeing a photograph of a politician with his wife and children standing in front of their Christmas tree and every single child was holding a large gun and so were their parents. I think that is obscene.

As a UK gun owner i have a small collection of classic shotguns. They're not impossible to get but the system does make it difficult to get them. It's also VERY easy to loose your licence and have your guns seized. For instance in the states from what I understand you can literally make your own improvised firearm for personal use. Here that'll land you a 10 stretch.

My dad owned a shotgun for decades. To this day I still have no idea where he stored it or the ammo even though he no longer has it. That toddlers in the US accidentally shoot their parents every so often is unfathomable to me, as is the idea that you can freely own and carry in public a weapon that you do not need to prove any competence of use...

Best summed up by Rowan Atkinson's character in The Thin Blue Line "In order to allow someone to own a gun, I must first ask questions as to whether they are a suitable person to own one. One of those questions must be "Does this person wish to own a gun?". If the answer is "Yes" then they are clearly not a suitable person to own a gun."

So UK does not allow their citizens the right to remove a tyrannical government?

I was granted a shotgun certificate in the UK in 1974, i was aged 16 years old. I bought a Mossberg 500 6 shot pump action. Then two years later i got a section 1 firearms & i got a Ruger 10/22. I had my first air rifle for my 6th birthday to use on my Grandfathers pig farm. I was always around firearms from birth. In the UK as long as you have a use for it, either pest control or clay pigeon shooting & you can keep that gun safe it is still a right to have a shotgun. Having a criminal record for violence will stop that right but, its still a right. ... Apply for your certificate, & if its turned down, appeal, get to it!!!

As a UK gun owner, the process is quite easy. If everything checks out, you'll be granted a certificate allowing you to use and own firearms up to the caliber supported by the club you're a member of. You can also apply for variations, so if you have a farmer friend who wishes to allow you to shoot on their land, the police will visit the land and asses what calibers are safe to shoot. Once they have a signed letter from the land owner, they can grant the variation and you can now own the calibers permitted for use on that land. Variations cost about £20, so it's not too bad. We also don't need to send forms off to be given approval for suppressors. We just list them on our licence and we're good to go. All of mine have them because nobody wants to have to wear hearing protection. Pre-covid, the club I was a member of allowed up to .50 bmg. Covid put them out of business though. So now I shoot on a farmer friends land and shoot .223 mainly out of a Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 which has a sub-MOA guarantee. Beautiful rifle. We have quite a few rifles from the likes of Savage Arms too which are brilliant rifles. Just wish my safe was big enough to hold more rifles 😂

I have never quite understood why Americans seem to love their guns more than their children. Just because your constitution says you can own a gun, why would that take priority over the trauma your kids go to every time they get on a school bus?

Long time watcher, first time commenter. As a follow up to this video, look up the dumblaine school shooting (tennis players Andy Murray, and his brother were at the school at that time) this one incident brought out an entire ban on side arms in the UK. There was a short amnesty for people to hand in guns, then it became illegal for anyone in the UK to hold or own a side arm

Coming from a family that owned guns (my dad), here's what he had to do. Firstly he owned a .22 rifle. He had a separate firearms licence for that. Then, he owned 5 shotguns. He had a separate licence for those too.The shotguns were licenced on the pretext that he would go shooting at an established shoot, or farm that gave him access. The rifle was licenced on the pretext that he would go to one specific area in Scotland that would give him access about 2-3 times a year. Now to keep the guns safe, he had a steel cabinet that had to be fixed to the floor and the wall with long screws. The rifle also needed to be fixed inside with a separate chain on which a padlock had to be put through. Every 5-6 months, a police officer would come to our home and inspect the gun cabinet. My dad had a small room behind his bedroom. Also in the cabinet, was a safe where we could put jewellery and what not inside.

I have never understood why anyone would need a semi-automatic weapon. I know it is not illegal to own a gun but we have very strict reasons and checks in place.

At my work we keep being spammed by a US gun shop offering to sell us ammo. As none of us have gun licences, I keep wanting to reply to them to point out they are trying to get us to break U.K. law. I suspect they have never thought of it.

Some people make confusion between "Everyone should have the right to curry a gun" with "Everyone should be allowed to carry a gun" Let's take as an example another country that has the right to carry a gun in their constitution but with 1/7 of the gun related death rate than US: Czech republic To get a licence for you constitutional right to carry a gun un Czech republic you have to: 1- Pass a psycological test and interview 2- Pass a visual test 3- Pass an earing test 4- Pass a gun using test hitting a target 4 times on 5 at 10 meter distance with a gun and at 25 meter distance with a rifle 5- Pass an exam about gun related laws (how to correctly store guns and ammunitions, where you cannot bring a gun like schools, hospitals, courts, public offices and so on) 6- Have a complete clean criminal sheet The fact that citizens have the right to carry a gun doesn't mean that even a mentally unstable, deaf and nearly blind, untrained ignorant criminal should be allowed to carry one... Unless you like mass shootings, mental breackdown people that kill faimily members, kids that kill friends by accident, nearly blind or untrained people that shot wrong targets by mistake "We cannot regulate it because it's in our constitution" is a false statement your government is giving you so that their friends continue to make profit with the INSANE amount of guns (more than 320 milliones guns are OFFICIALLY around US and the unofficial are probably the same amount) Take this two statistics in mind when you talk about guns: 1- if you carry a gun you have 52% higher probabliities to be shot than people that do not carry a gun. 2- If you carry a gun while facing a gun threat you have 63% higher chance to die than a person that doesn't carry a gun Gun only give you more chance to KILL your "enemy", but lower chance to survive yourself. It's NEVER a "defensive" tool, it's always an offensive tool, thus the "I keep a gun to defend my family" is another false statement debunked by pure numbers

Aussie here, our gun laws are similar to the UK, thank goodness. I’m a grandmother and have never seen a real gun in my life.

My secret pleasure is getting into debates about guns with americans on gun nut channels. They get so triggered when you present them with facts and logic. All they can parrot back is propaganda, brainwashing, and flat out lies.

UK Population is over 67 million, NOT the 56 million quoted. The video creator seems to be making the all-too-common mistake of confusing England (56 million) and the UK.

I've been trying to explain this to people for so long. It's always the other brits that tell me I'm wrong. Honestly most of the people over here actually believe they are illegal unless you are a famer. I actually had someone say that if guns were in any way legal then the hoodie gangsters would be able to get them. That's the level of intelligence I'm going up against sometimes 😩

I'm in the UK. My husband and I were target pistol shooters until they were banned (we were also active in the protests against banning them), so I know a little about the topic. To obtain our licences, as well as going through the personal vetting process described here, we also had to prove membership of a recognised pistol club. The club we belonged to owned both an indoor and an outdoor range, where we went to shoot. "Personal protection" is absolutely NOT considered a good reason for owning a gun, and if you mention this phrase, you will instantly be considered unfit to hold a firearms licence. It suggests that you may have some kind of fantasies about shooting people. A gun owner must store all firearms and ammunition in a secure, fireproof locked cabinet which is out of sight. We had to buy a very heavy metal gun safe which was bolted to the wall of the house in an obscure corner of the top floor, with a main section for the pistols and a separately locked compartment for ammo, and this setup was inspected by firearms officers as part of approving the licence. (No pistols there now, obviously, but at least it's still a useful document safe.) Guns are allowed out of the safe only while being used or maintained. While being transported anywhere they must be in secure, inconspicuous cases. Showing a firearm to any unlicensed person, or even showing them where they're stored, is grounds for immediate loss of your licence. Once while I was away at a job training course and my husband was out shopping, the house was burgled. Of course he phoned the police, and when he said "we're target shooters and there are guns in the house", they were round in no time flat! By the time they arrived, he had checked the gun safe, and the burglars hadn't penetrated that far into the house. When the police came, he said he'd checked and the guns were OK. They still wanted to see them. "Are you firearms officers? Do you have a firearms licence?" Neither of them did. "Then I'm not even allowed to tell you where the safe is." They were very disappointed.

So how's that right to bear arms going? 630 mass shootings in the USA this year, in the UK we have had 8 since 2020. Have to say making it a privilege seems to be working over here.

But it's not a right in nearly every country on earth. The general consensus is that guns are only in mass circulation in the event of civil war, in any country (the UK is no specific exception to this).

It’s really only farmers and sportsmen that own guns. Self defence is never a reason to own a gun. You would be arrested if you shot an intruder.

Gun homicides per year per 100,000 people USA: 4.46 Gun homicides per year per 100,000 people UK: 0.02

"I want a gun for 'self-protection'." This would make you ineligible for consideration because it is an admission that, under certain circumstances, you would be prepared to point it at another person.

When I was going to visit New York, I told my eldest sister I would have to get a gun for protection. She was horrified and said,Ohh! Sal,do be careful. 🤣🤣On a more serious note,I have never known or met anyone here with a gun,apart from exceptions like local Welsh farmers,to protect their livestock from such as foxes. Even then,they never discuss or display them. I can only imagine knowing that anywhere you go over there has a strong potential for being in the wrong place at the wrong time is scary ,to put it mildly.I do fully understand why homeowners need guns as protection from intruders though.. One of the most disturbing things I have seen on footage,is the way the police don’t stop when taking down a suspect,but just keep shooting until they are dead. Now that is terrifying.Where do you draw the line?! Thank god to live over here

My American cousin got a pink AR15 for her birthday, another year she got a handgun she could conceal down her boot. Can’t imagine living my life so constantly in fear!

the problem at the moment in the states is gun ownership and firearms laws have become massivly politicised,until that changes nothing else about them will.

Actually owning a gun is very easy in the UK if you have a legitimate reason (Self defence is not a legitimate reason). I owned a gun from 16 till about 19 (I had to surrender the firearm when I went to university due to letting my club membership expire). No one stormed my front door, I was sent a letter and given time to resolve to issue (I decided to sell the firearm back to a local store).

Why do you need a gun? If the answer is for self-defense, your permit is instantly denied. In the UK.

The last school shooting in the UK was in 1996 in Scotland. It was so long ago that British tennis player Andy Murray was a student there at the time. Thankfully he was in a different room, so wasn’t hurt.

I wouldn’t bet against there being more gun deaths not reported per year in USA is more than the entire amount of gun deaths ever recorded in the UK

What kind of messed up country do you need a gun for self protection?

Tyler forgot the most important test for Americans to own a gun - they have to be able to breathe. The home visit is usually to make sure you have the correct facilities to keep your guns out of the hands of anyone else. My friend had 5 shotguns in a locked metal cabinet that had been fitted to the wall. He wasn't allowed to keep the keys in an open place and if he wishes to purchase another gun he would have to lose one of his present stock or get another cabinet. The police will visit you occasionally to check you are keeping to the law. Ammunition is also locked away, well out of reach of sticky, little fingers.

We had shotguns growing up, my parents both used to clay pigeon shoot. The rules and regulation are incredibly strict. The police would come round yearly to make sure they were locked away in a secure locker and you also have to keep ammunition in a separate area just in case someone does manage to break into the locker. Even in a secure and sporting setting I've seen accidents happen. The fact that anyone can get a gun in the US makes me feel physically sick.

I have never once in my 52 years of life ever felt the need for a gun in Britain, I don't hunt for my food. I go to the shops. And I certainly don't want to hurt anybody and I have never felt threatened enough to warrant owning a gun. I've seen videos of Americans who seem to be obsessed with guns. I can only think it's some kind of a power trip. Maybe they need a gun to make themselves feel strong? Or maybe they're just so paranoid that they feel they need a gun.

Long may it continue, we in the UK can't understand why gun ownership is so important to Americans, so many mass shootings, no one bats an eylid ............ senseless 🤨

Here in Australia you may own guns for Hunting, Farming, Gunclub shooting or sports shooting, but Self Defence is not a valid reason.

Contrary to popular (US) belief ... the right to own a gun is not a symbol of freedom, the real freedom is living in a country where you never think about needing one. In the US, your constitution means that "the government" need to look at reasons why you should NOT have a gun. In the UK, YOU have to convince "the government" that you need one, and you can forget about getting anything "military" that has not been deactivated. Also, contrary to US belief ... most European countries and other "1st world" countries actually enjoy _more_ freedom than US citizens. Spoiler: If everyone, including yourself, keeps telling you that you are free ... that is usually a good sign that you're not.

A point that was glossed over in this video was that in Great Britain 'self defence' is NOT considered a legitimate reason to own a firearm, which is one of the reasons a lot of US citizens cite as to why they need a weapon. People often say that we may not have a gun problem, but we have a knife problem. This is true- but the US has considerably more knife crimes per head of population than the UK, in addition to their gun crime statistics!

Please take a look at a video about the dunblane massacre, I was 6 at the time and still remember how devastating it was. This is the reason our gun laws are as they are. I dread to think how many of these massacres would have happened in the uk had we not taken the steps we did, when we did.

Having a gun for "self defence" never made sense to me as an Aussie. It's a long-range _offensive_ weapon, and therefore not something to _defend_ yourself with. It's a deadly weapon that you can easily kill someone with - how is a deadly weapon necessary for DEFENCE? What are the cops even for in the US?

The fact that we technically COULD have a gun, doesn't mean we do. The law is so restrictive, and rightfully so. No one worries about getting shot up, and it's pretty much just farmers that have guns. It's so much safer. Its just not part of our culture

😅Our gun ownership has always been restricted to some extent but in 1996 a gunman walked tnto a Primary School (7 to 11 years) and shot and killed one teacher and 16 children, before shooting himself. I believe that Andy Murray, the tennis player , was a pupil at the school but not involved with the shooting. After this massacre, our gun laws were toughened up a lot.

You cannot own a gun for self defence in the UK. You would go to jail for murder or attempted murder if you used it on someone.

To the deaths comparison. 2022. UK had 28 firearm deaths. USA had 48,830. Even allowing for the 6x greater population in the USA you are 250x more likely to be killed by a gun in the USA than the UK. You are 18x more likely to be a homicide victim in the USA than UK regardless of weapon type. Imagine that. 17 out of 18 homicides. Families destroyed. Homes wrecked. Prisons filled. Don't happen in the UK. It's fair to say you are 18x safer in regards to homicide in the UK than the USA. A difference that is just VAST. A gulf in personal safety that beggars belief (Again that is accounting for population differences) Then there are gun related accidental deaths. We get 1 every 5 years in the UK. It's one every 27 days in the USA. 65x greater Everyone I know who owns a gun ( I live in an area between a major city and the countryside and know a lot of farmers. So this is a sample of maybe 30 gun owners?) Was interviewed, provided references, had a house visit (mostly to check storage - at least that's what the official says... I suspect they check other things as well) All but one had to provide a reference from their GP who performed a mental wellness check. Most who have owned guns for 5 years or mare have had a none scheduled visit to check compliance. The most common fire arm law that is broken in the UK... is owning a gun without a license. It isn't using it illegally. It's owning it illegally.

The point IS that when the Constitution was written, the most powerful gun you could get was a musket. Muzzle-loading, black-powder using and THREE shots per minute. Who the hell NEEDS a gun that can fire 100 rounds a minute anyway? The problem is that you Americans have become so beholden to them and enthralled by them that, despite more mass shootings per year than there are DAYS, you just can't seem to do without them (NOTE: YES you CAN). And do NOT give me that crap of "Well, if someone had a gun they could have taken the shooter out!" - if NOBODY had guns then those who were killed with them would still be alive. I wonder whether your opinion would change at all if one of YOUR children was killed with a gun. Having a gun does NOT give you freedom. True freedom is being able to walk down ANY street at ANY time and NOT need them. And never forget that although it is written down, Laws CAN be changed or repealed. It has happened at least 3 times before.

Owning a gun for self defence isn't necessary over here as chances are the person attacking you doesn't have one either.

One of the owners of a business I worked for lived on and owned a farm out in the moors. He kept a shotgun, for dealing with rabbits and vermin. He used to ask me to sign his License renewal applications as a referee - as I was a qualified professional allegedly of good character and standing, or whatever. I saw from the forms that the renewal process (let alone the initial granting) was far from straightforward, with plenty of conditions!

Great video, loved the reaction - perhaps look at the Dunblane tragedy to understand why they changed the law here.

I was a member of a gun club in the uk for a while. Guns are way more common than people think. Especially shotguns. Guns are not difficult to obtain if you can prove a use. Getting access to a club is one way and that itself can be a hurdle as they dont usuaoly have an open door policy. Hunting is another but the land has to be approved. Members are protective of their sport because how easily they can be banned. Such as our dunblane school shooting that led to the banning of conceable handguns. You can still buy them but they are long barrelled with fixed stocks. We also have tight restrictions on magazine capacity and repeat fire. Generally semi auto is 22 at most in rifles. We do have bolt action rifle calibres.

Surprising it is as many as 6.5 guns per 100 people. Thinking again most of that must be multiple ownership. I am 47 & have only seen one gun in my life-an old WW2 Bren Rifle when helping to clear out an elderly family friends house in the late 1980's. Don't think I have ever met anybody who actually owns a gun or goes target shooting.

The population of the UK is around 68 million, not 56 million.

The Union flag in the cartoon is upside down.

The reply about Switzerland - I'm aware of that situation (I have friends there and I have seen their firearm). It was designed as national defence, not civil defence against one another. World wide, firearms are essentially the necessity of a country's army. You can shoot from a distance without the target seeing you. That makes a firearm an OFFensive weapon, not a DEFensive weapon. And it's for that reason that access to firearms is tightly controlled, it's not because anyone wants to suppress your rights of self protection. There are lots of alternative ways of protecting yourself.

Here (UK) you have no legal right to use a weapon in self-defense. You're not allowed to keep pepper spray or tasers or similar defensive items, it's not legally acceptable to keep a potential melee weapon such as a baseball bat in a position where it can be grabbed in the case of an attack, and if someone gets hurt invading your property or attacking you you can be found liable if you did not do every possible step to escape peacefully. You can use reasonable force, but you need to prove that you took every opportunity to escape without causing harm to anyone or else you can get in serious trouble alongside your attacker. The law encourages you to retreat not fight. Whether or not that's better or worse than the US' "hostility at every turn" policies is a debate for higher people than me.

No, healthcare is a right. Owning a gun should be a privilege. Like in any other rational society.

I'm from Plymouth which is one of the only places to see a mass shooting when a local man decided to kill 5 inncoent people in cluding a 3 year old girl and wounding 2 others before turning the gun on himself. He previosuly had his gun removed but managed to get it back (the people responsible for that must be haunted every day by their actions and have faced disiplinary measures). For weeks after every time there was a loud bang locals were visibly panicked - it's incredible how something like that affects a community mentally. I can't imagine living in a country where shootings are commonplace. It's terrifying. I'd would never want to own a gun or be around anyone who does. When the right to bare arms was written you all had muskets which took 5 minutes to load... that should be the only gun you're allowed to own. not semi automatic weapons given out like candy without background checks.

I was a reference for a friends application last year. Had a 5 minute chat with an officer. Was very friendly and easy. He got turned down because the gun safe he got was too small for the gun he wanted. Once that was fixed the licence went through no problem.

The two elements he missed out in the video is a license is required to buy ammunition and the license will specify the number, types and calibre of guns that can be owned. There is also a requirement to store ammunition in a separated locked container and it is an offence to have a loaded gun outside a designated firing area, e.g. a gun club, this restriction includes your own home.

You can own a gun in the UK but they're not handed out like sweets, you should respect how dangerous a gun is. The only thing more dangerous is a gun in the hands of a stupid person.

From my pov people in the US seem to think they're still living in the 1600s in the wild west. I honestly can't understand how any government (and honestly how any citizen) can possibly think that it's normal to not only give everyone access to weapons that are only used by soldiers in war zones anywhere else, but to have practically 0 checks on whether that person may be dangerous and what they're likely to do with that weapon! It's just ridiculous. Having a gun you don't really understand how to use and store safely and have no real understanding what are the very real consequences of using it is irresponsible and dangerous. The "oh i just want one for self protection and hope I'll never have to use it" reason is ridiculous. You don't live in a war zone, and the odds of you being able to draw your gun on someone who is already attacking you with a gun before they kill you are extremely small. Indeed even if you're attacked with a knife you're not very likely to be able to protect yourself in time, and not be disarmed by the attacker and have your gun used against you. The only way you get to defend yourself is if you're drawing first, and that makes you the aggressor. Especially since someone who has a gun but doesn't regularly trains to use it is far less likely to have the necessary presence of mind to use it responsibly and calmly and not just kill someone in rage or panic. A gun is not a toy and just reacting without thinking while holding a gun can only cause problems and serious injuries. But everyone in the US is completely desensitized to that, gun violence is so rampant that most people can't even realize the consequences anymore until it's too late. It's not like after you've killed somebody you can fix it, or get over the trauma just like that! And incredibly not even the police is trained to use guns responsibly in the US. You often see officers react with extreme violence for things that can be easily resolved with diplomacy or common sense. They clearly have no training, they're just given a gun and i imagine whoever is in charge thinks the fact of having that gun automatically makes them calm in a crisis?!? Or more likely whoever is in charge doesn't think at all, not passed the "everyone has guns, so we must have them, and since everyone has them they don't require any training". Many people in the US treat guns the same way entitled children treat toys, i.e. "i have the right to have guns and do what i want with them, bring them wherever i like and threaten whoever i want, and if you try to take them away because I've proven over and over that I'm irresponsible with them I'm going to throw a tantrum the size of the empire state building and go set fire to the house (i.e. overthrow the government)". That seems extremely irresponsible and entitled. The very fact that even your kindergartners need to go through gun attack drills in school as if they live in a war zone and nobody bats an eye at that shows how irresponsible most people are. Almost everywhere else one school shooting is enough to have everyone asking for much harsher gun laws, and everyone agrees it's the right thing to do, including gun owners! In the US there are literally hundreds of school shootings each year, most done by teens who aren't considered responsible enough to drink a beer but are somehow allowed guns!??? You have 6 year olds bringing guns to school and threatening teachers and other kids and their parents don't even get a slap on the wrist for that?!? You have kids picking up parents guns and killing family members or themselves because they treated that gun as a toy, and yet there is no regulation on how to store guns safely and people are still allowed to put them wherever?! You supervise your kids more around cleaning products than guns?!? And people act as if it's absolutely normal to sacrifice hundreds of children every year so that anyone can buy an AK47 at Walmart with practically 0 checks and have it on the kitchen counter where their 6 year old can take it and shoot the neighbors kids because they fought over a toy! Zero respect for human life, zero understanding of the fact that any right is also a responsibility, and in fact zero understanding of the concept of responsibility itself! Any rational adult should be able to understand that if you're not capable of exercising your rights responsibly then they should be taken away. It's the basis of the justice system, and for god's sake it's even the basis of kids education, if you can't be responsible you lose your privileges! Yet any attempt to implement that when it comes to guns is met with a nation wide tantrum. When at a national level there are proofs every day that the population is not responsible enough to use guns and the current system is a killer, in the most real sense of the word. You act as if gun control would mean slavery! What are you afraid of, if you think you're so worthy of carrying that gun?! Surely if you're such a good responsible gun owner you'll have no problems proving that and see no reason not to ensure irresponsible people don't have access to guns so they can't give good responsible gun owners like you a bad name by killing random kids in school shootings or random people in supermarket shootings etc etc etc.

Recently I've seen an updated report that puts it at around 120 guns per 100 people in the US. I don't know how accurate the report is but I can well imagine it could be that high because my friend in the US is like a one man army. He's sent me pictures of his guns. Here in the whole UK you get less gun deaths per year than one US city can get in one weekend. Where my friend lives in Portland Oregon I think there's been over 300 gun homicides this last year alone. He had a couple of home invaders break in whilst he was in his apartment, they broke down his locked front door to get inside. (My friend always keeps his front door locked even when he's in). He shot one dead and held the other at gun point until the police arrived. He has often messaged me to say he's heard gunshots down the street etc. This is whilst I live in rural Lincolnshire and I leave my door unlocked and nothing will happen. If I go outside my front door most of the year all I can hear is birds in my garden hedge or the council people mowing the grass on the parkland opposite my house. Only yesterday when we had the TV off, my partner said "I know I like things quiet but this is ridiculous". Middle of the day and it was dead silent, you could have heard a pin drop. That's the stark difference between a densely populated US city and a sparsely populated rural area of the UK. Two friends who live in places that are polar opposites.

One key point to understand: in the UK even if you are allowed to own a gun it is still ILLEGAL to carry it in public or to keep it for home defence. It must be locked away separate from its ammo. If you were to shoot someone pleading self defence would get you absolutely nowhere.

I don't see how a murder weapon is connected to self-defense. I took self-defense classes and not once were we ever taught to actually take a life.

Judging by the number of 'deaths by gun', the 'self defence' reason for owning a gun in the States obviously does not bear out.

Both of my grandfather's own guns, one is a farmer and only uses it to kill predators such as foxes and even that is rare it spends the majority of it's life in its locker

I remember back in 1993 was on my way to new york for short break. Arrived at Heathrow Airport saw for first time police with semi automatic guns. Scared the life out of me. At the age of 36 had never seen a gun before in real life. Presumably in USA this is an everyday sight. Mind boggles 😢

It's not just you the police interview. When my husband renewed his licence they interviewed me, and did background checks on everyone in the household. They check how and where you store everything.

I'm a member of a shooting club in the UK and if I chose to I could apply for a firearms licence although I have no interest in doing so. The idea behind the strict laws for handguns is to prevent concealment. From what the instructors have said, the laws are actually more strict around handguns than other guns. If your handgun is not at the required length, then you have to have like a metal rod coming out where the stock of an AR would be to extend the length of the handgun so it's harder to conceal. The handgun also can only be used by the user it is licenced to. You couldn't for example, allow another licenced firesarms user use your handgun as it's not specifically registered to them and they can get some very hefty punishments if caught using it. Assault Rifles are less strict to what I recall but they have to be small caliber from memory (.22) and cannot be Automatic. Our shooting range does have higher caliber AR's such as Kalashnikovs etc but they're Straight Pull rather than Semi Automatic. I'm unsure if you can have these ones licenced at home though. As others have said, home defense in the UK is not a valid reason. During the application for being a member at the shooting club, let alone for applying for a gun licence, asks you things such as if you suffer from Anxiety/Depression so they do cover a lot when deciding if you can apply. I have heard one reason from someone in regards to why self defense in the US could be a valid reason and that was due to the size of your country. In the UK, if someone is trying to break into your home and is dangerous, calling the police and getting a response to your home could be a matter of minutes due to have close everything is. In the US though, everything is much bigger and thus can be more spread out. That same scenario in the US could result in a 30 minute response from the police even if they set off immediately to your home depending on where you are located. In that time, the intruder could've already broke into your home and harmed/killed anyone inside. That and on top of that, Police in the US don't lean on the Public Protection side of things, defence appears to be more on the Individuals than the police. In this scenario, some people would have to resort to something like a weapon to defend themselves instead of relying on the Police which I thought was an interesting perspective. That said, it'd be less of a problem if not everyone and their dog had a gun in the US and you'd not need to have a gun yourself.

I feel the need to say this - again. The second amendment does NOT give individuals the right to bear arms. That right is conferred upon a well-regulated militia. It is written in English and there are rules of grammar which apply. If Americans wish to have the individual right, that is their legitimate choice, but the way to get that is with another amendment...just like you did with Prohibition.

how long does it take to get a gun? in america it depends how far the next gun store is away from you. in germany there is a process(getting license) that takes several month, sometimes more than a year.

The video said that guns and ammo are to be stored in a locked container. This missed that the container must not be ordinarily accessible to visitors, including burglars. This means the lock container would be somewhere like a loft etc. If you say to the police you want a gun for self defence you will be rejected from having a license.

Sweden: About 100 h of theory and then shooting tests, where you have to accuratly determine how far 50 m away is, and hit a paperboard moose at the correct spot etc. It's very similar to getting a drivers license. But then you have to get a license for each gun, and you need a safety locker for them, and there's a limit on how many guns you may own.

America has a lot in common with Afghanistan, Iraq etc.

While we might be allowed a muzzle loading pistol or musket without a licence, you would need a black powder licence if you want to be able to use it.

In Canada, our licensing procedure is very similar to the UK. We do have much more hunting and dangerous wildlife here. Safety training is required. Handguns are allowed with a more strict permit. Unfortunately, most of our handgun crimes are committed using illegal guns smuggled in from the USA. Our government is trying to ban more guns here INSTEAD of putting the money towards stopping the illegal gun smuggling that is huge here!

The only reason an American would feel they need a gun for self defence is because just about any other idiot they might encounter has the ability to buy a gun, and that's a threat to their safety! As a UK citizen, I can count on less than one hand the number of times I've thought I needed a gun for self defence.

You can buy tanks in the UK too. They're usually totally road legal. And an old tank doesn't cost much more than a new car.

You will never use “self defence” as a lawful reason to own a firearm in Australia. It appears to be a vicious cycle. In the U.S.A. guns are so prevalent that perhaps self defence is a legitimate concern. In the civilised world, we have gun laws. It is therefore beneficial to learn self-defence or at least have a basic level of fitness. We don’t have the easy option of just being a sedentary slug and then strutting around like the King of the World. The Second Amendment to the US constitution talks about the right to bear arms in the context of a well organised militia. Exactly where in that ideal do we fit the lonely psychopath, fuelled by being constantly bullied, eating absolute rubbish, having no access to mental health care because there is no public health system, and a never ending barrage of messaging via movies, video games and Presidential speeches that REVENGE IS GOOD? I am quietly confident that your founding fathers would be less than enthusiastic about what their constitution is being used to justify. Having said that, it is a truly remarkable statement of ideals - until the lawyers and big business got hold of it.

The only reason you can own semi automatic fire arms would be sport, and you would really have to go through the ringer to get it…

Tyler: Amendments can be amended. I also don't understand why fully automatic weapons are allowed in USA. Who whether they are living in a city or in a rural setting needs the likes of an Uzi or an Armalite rifle unless it's for nefarious purposes

As a brit I think the main issue I have with American gun culture is guns seem to be treated as toys. You constantly see videos of people playing with them. I once saw a clip where a toddler was playing with a real firearm. When confronted she told people to mind their own business and the guy wasn't loaded. Problem is a toddler now sees it as a toy and won't notice if it's loaded.

For me, if I need to own a gun to feel safe in society, Id like to move away from that place. That kind of mentality sounds very dystopian for me.