PEDIATRICS Vol. 94 No. 5 November 1994, pp. 731
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"HOW THE BRITISH VIEW US"

J. F. L. MD

"American citizens are not protected by a law akin to the British firearms Act 1920. These regulations, along with the laws passed in 1936, 1968, and 1988, have protected British citizens for nearly three generations. Quite apart from America, "where buying a handgun is as easy as buying a tooth brush," British society is far more circumspect about private weaponry. To obtain a gun license, potential owners must satisfy local police that they have "good reason" for possessing a gun and that they are "fit to be entrusted with it." One of the guiding philosophies behind British gun restrictions—that personal protection is not a good reason for having a firearm—may seem untenable (possibly quaint) to some Americans. Yet defenseless Britons remain comparatively safe in their homes with a murder rate one tenth of that in the USA.