Only criminals have guns in the UK (or some farmers and sportsmen) but is increasingly common to see police with them now we have the "War on Terror" and gun crime is going up, especially in the black communities and is spilling over into predominately white areas now.

A few years ago I heard that Japan had introduced a new gun law which was effective. They apparently had many thousands of gun crimes in a single year so they passed a law saying that anyone who is found with a gun they cannot prove a legitimate need for or that they shouldn't have they are to be sent to prison for life with no chance of parole but if they use that gun in a crime (it doesn't matter if they shoot it or not) they receive an automatic death penalty. I heard the gun crimes went from many thousands in one year to 4 in the next. I don't know if this is true or not, can TommyT verify this?