It doesn't take a gun to kill or wound, there is a huge knife problem in the UK
"Last year about 4,600 people were admitted to hospital in England with knife wounds. In the 12 months to June 2010, there were 29,981 knife crimes in England and Wales recorded by the police - a drop of 7% from the previous year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11929401the point is that there are violence prone people and I would rather granny have a 22 pistol in her hand rather than have to knife fight a thug breaking into her house.
I wonder if the UK thugs are polite when they knife you, since they are more civilized than Americans.......
UK thugs usually knife other thugs, no need to knife little old laidy's who are not a threat, when I left England most real bad guys carried short swords on their left or right hips,the favorite among street gangs is a cut throat razor ,nasty in a fight .