UK Gun Ban Targets Target Pistols

You may have heard that the UK doesn’t want its citizens to own guns, save a small number of shooting sports-oriented shotgun owners. Who must have a license, for which they must be interviewed (in person) by the police and pay an annual fee. They’re dead serious, mate. We recently reported on a recent BB APB, where the Basingstoke po-po’s gun crime bobbies got their knickers in a twist after discovering a bird shot with a BB gun. And now comes word (via Auntie Beeb) that Guernsey is “asking all owners of the guns to surrender them, and schools, sporting clubs and dog trainers, who are all known to use starting pistols, are asked to check the make of any pistols they have.” ‘Cause the Beeb can’t craft a grammatical sentence for toffee these days. And the Olympic .380 BBM revolvers have to be licensed, now. ‘Cause “they are designed to fire blanks and are used as starting pistols, but are often converted into illegal weapons.” Over-educated readers will immediately note that Guernsey isn’t part of the U.K. per se . . .

It’s a British Crown Dependency (don’t you hate it when island nations get all strung out like that?). So, over in the UK, they take an even more dim (dimmerer?) view of starter’s pistols. They’re banned.

Luckily, there’s a starting pistol amnesty on until 4 June. After which time an entire gun squad could come crashing into your home with H&K submachine guns at the ready, demanding the pistol’s surrender and nicking you on a firearms possessions charge. For which you WILL go to the slammer. No, really.

The UK amnesty aims to remove all of the weapons, whether converted or not, from public ownership.

Weapons? They’re starting pistols. Equally important, what happens now? How are the Brits going to start races? Monty Python fans answer below. Oh, and in case you thought The Land of Hope and Glory had gone completely bonkers on this plastic pistol pursuit, polymer revolvers are all the rage here in The Land of The Free.