To obtain a firearm license, a person must provide the police with a valid reason for wanting to own each firearm, and each one is listed on their license. Self defence has not been a valid or legal reason to own a firearm since 1968.

Anyone who has been sentenced to more than 3 years in prison is prohibited from obtaining a firearm license for life. Prison sentences for illegal possession of a firearm range from a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years, to a maximum of 14 years, with an unlimited fine. Crimes were created by these acts, include ‘trespassing with a firearm,’ which leads to punishment regardless of why the person was trespassing, or whether the firearm was loaded.

Consequently, in the UK gun ownership stands at around 6.5 guns per 100 people, compared to 101 guns per 100 in the US. After the 1997 laws were passed, gun amnesties encouraged people to hand in weapons, and the government purchased 162,000 guns and 700 tons of ammunition from citizens, costing them $200m.

Once owning a handgun is illegal, it means that anyone who owns one is a criminal. The minimum sentence of 5 years for possession of a firearm discourages criminals from using guns when committing crimes. A Londoner is as likely as a New Yorker to be robbed in the street, but the New Yorker is 54 times more likely to be killed in the process.