But it did happen again in Cumbria, it was stupid kneejerk legislation that didn't achieve anything positive.

Didn't do me any harm. With something that has low recoil like a .22 it's perfectly safe with proper supervision - but it does depend on the kid.

That happened where I come from. My mum was right where the first shots were fired about 3 minutes earlier. Not a present experience to be in town that morning.

I thought your tone seemed familiar

Seriously though, don't know where that guy is now, but as time went on he seemed to have more and more brushes with the law. The most memorable was when he put a brick through his girlfriend's windows. He sat down and when the police van turned up he was standing by the back doors waiting before the police got out. They just opened the doors, he got in, and they drove off. No handcuffs, no physical contact, they just treated him like an old familiar customer.

If guns were easily available, this is someone who would have wanted one.

On a related note, I read on sky news that someone from the NRA claimed the gun controls on the UK caused a rise in crime. He seems like a well informed chap

The NRA has a tsunami of disinformation. It's amazing (and worrying) that so many Americans are duped by it.

It made it harder for people to acquire weaponry. I call that positive.

It was the absolute opposite of this. It's why death from guns and gun atrocities are so low in Britain.

It always amazes me that some folk in Canada appear not to believe in gun control, thinking it pointless because it's "easy to go to the USA and get one."

That someone needs to go to another country to illegally buy a gun, with the associated risks while there followed by further risks smuggling it back across the border actually seems quite difficult to me.

As I recall, my dad used to take me duck hunting with hm when I was 6, 7, 8, to retrieve ducks, (I wasn't great at it), and occasionally when I was 7 or 8 he'd borrow the elevator operator's .410 and we'd go grouse hunting, and I'd get to take the odd shot under supervision. I think I got a pellet gun at about 13, and at 14 I bought my own .22. I took the hunter safety course that year. I started duck hunting at about 14 and deer hunting at 16. Bought my shotgun at 16 and still using the same one over 40 years later. My cousins on the farm did all that at a few years younger than me.

A shotgun at 16! And younger down on the farm!! Lordy lordy lordy I think a .22 at 16+ is about right, but of course it depends on the kid.

At 16 I was in the army reserve shooting asssault rifles, submachine guns and 105 Howitzers. At 17 I joined Bushell Park Miliitary Rifle Club and came home with a brand new FN C1 rifle and a case of 900 rounds to start training for Bisley competition, (never made the team), and mom didn't like it one bit. When in my 20's I started practical pistol shooting and practiced shooting 100 rds of 9mm weekly at the range for years. I stopped that and sold my pistols years ago. Like chainsaws, guns require some training for the operators to be handled safely. Unlike chainsaws, they are an instrument of death. I think there will always be debate about gun laws and no-one will likely be totally satisfied. I know in the states I do a double take when I see people carrying pistols casually, just because I'm not used to it.

It's all relative isn't it! Were you in the military earlier on?

Last year I was astonished to see a handwritten notice pinned on the noticeboard at the local store advertising 2 guns for sale.

No idea what they were but I just thought there should be better control over something like that.

I reported it but apparently there was nothing wrong. It appears the seller is trusted to follow the law when he sells. And, of course, the buyer also.

No, I was in scouts, then venturers at 14, and when I was 16 I joined the reserve unit most of my friends were in and that just happened to be an artillery regiment. Mind you, at 12 and 13 we used to take our rifles to scout camp and hunt, (also earned our marksmanship badges). Experiences vary no doubt not only between the Canadian and UK systems, but between other scout troops as well. Ours was a good one; we went hunting, we camped once a month, and bought our own VW microbus so we didn't have to depend on our parents to get us there, (no first or reverse but still a bargain).

How do you know it's disinformation? Let's be honest... we all get our news, and opinion, from newspapers, the internet or other people. Some claim this is disinfo, others claim that is disinfo.... you don't really know. You side with whatever suits your opinion today. Seek and ye will find. All we know is what we experience... and even that's affected by perception.

Life's a beach and then we die.....