Well, having just arrived back last night from a few weeks in the South Pacific followed by 3 days at the NRA Whittington Centre in New Mexico for a shooting event, I have a slightly different view.
First, it goes without saying, any form of murder, whether it's one or one hundred victims is both senseless and heinous.
Gun control in both the UK and USA is brought about not for public safety though. It is for political reasons only. For example, if gun control was for public safety in the United Kingdom (which was the stated reason for the Handgun law changes after Dunblane) then the whole of the United Kingdom would be subject to the changes in the Firearms Act.
However, certain areas of the United Kingdom are exempt from the changes and in those areas we have United Kingdom Citizens able to keep their pistols and continue using them in exactly the same way as before Dunblane. I guess you could compare it the the different areas in the US which have draconian gun laws such as Chicago, Washington DC etc and then States like Vermont which has absolutely no qualms about what type of firearm you can have and no regulations. Check out the gun crime stats in Vermont and compare to places like Chicago!
Oh, the reason why some parts of the UK the new handgun laws don't apply? The Government needed the votes of the MPs to get the Firearms Amendment Act passed so did a deal exempting areas if the MP's there voted in favour.
I believe that Shropshire where I now live has the highest concentration of firearms in the country (so the West Mercia Firearms team, based in Malvern told me).
One additional thing, the media generally hasn't a clue, or perhaps deliberately sets out to mislead in many ways when it comes to firearms. For example, automatic weapons have been heavily regulated federally for many years. I forget what year the changes were introduced nationally but I have been shooting in USA since 1990 and the regulations were in force then.
Basically a special licence from the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco and Firearms is required to have an automatic firearm of any type and there was a fee of circa $300 payable. It is not an easy thing to get. However, if we believe what we see in the media, every shooting incident is done with easy to obtain automatic weapons. The same licensing applies to sound suppressors (silencers) in the US as well but we are allowed them the UK. 3 of my rifles have them and one of my shotguns.
