Gun Culture

There's an interesting post over at The England Project about gun culture, comparing the present day against 100 years ago, prompted by Richard Munday's opinion piece in the Telegraph (I think registration required)

I couldn't find any data on gun ownership by social class in the early 1900s so this will purely be anecdotal but I can remember talking to my granddad in the mid 80s about guns and he said that no-one in his (dirt poor) family growing up had a gun. So I don't dispute that the average gentleman has firearms, but the common man did not have the same access to weaponry.

There's a facinating snippet of Munday's piece that John at the England Project didn't write about:

"Such deterrent potential was indeed acknowledged in part in Britain's first Firearms Act, which was introduced as an emergency measure in response to fears of a Bolshevik upheaval in 1920. Home Office guidance on the implementation of the Act recognised "good reason for having a revolver if a person lives in a solitary house, where protection from thieves and burglars is essential"."

Leaving aside the fact that the first Firearms Act was brought in by Lloyd George against the perceived threat from the Left (echoes of today's Home Office announcement) the act was used in an uneven way, if you were rich or rural, you could own a revolver, but if you were urban poor, then the authorities would not allow you to.

So this is yet another example of the erstwhile "Establishment" imposing restrictions on everyone else, but yelping when it affects them.

Drake at the Edge of England's Sword got it spot on before Christmas

"Small 'c' conservatives have been very poor at sticking up for the liberties of other groups in society. Big 'C' conservatives have been abysmal at it (partly I think because they labour under the misapprehension that their party still is part of the Establishment). Whichever political party ends up representing the right in Britain, must learn this lesson and take it to heart, and use any statements on the issue of hunting to emphasise a deeper committment to liberty for all."

What can be said for hunting goes for shooting too, the Conservatives only seem to be exercised about rights they care about.