The Second Ammendment Lobby and Police Safety

[davidbfpo]

David,

Has the question of private ownership of Military Style Semi-Automatic weapons ever been reconsidered in a political context in England since the ban was put in place?

No, it is very unlikely that the ban will be reconsidered, let alone lifted. There is some pressure for lighter regulation, from serious match shooting enthusiasts for example. For a host of reasons 'military style weapons', let alone semi-autos, were never licensed in large numbers. It has become increasingly hard to legally possess a handgun - it has been illegal since 1997 - and 'home defence' has never been accepted as a rationale.

The legislative 'crack down', mainly using greater regulation, came after four mass shootings:

Hungerford 1987, sixteen dead, wounded fifteen, using a military semi-auto SKS and other weapons:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungerford_massacre

Monkseaton 1989, one dead, sixteen shot, with a shotgun:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkseaton_shootings

Dunblane 1996, sixteen children and one adult dead, using licensed hand guns:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre

Cumbria 2010, twelve dead, with eleven injured, using a shotgun and .22 rifle:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbria_shootings

We still have regular home hostage incidents, armed crime - mainly with illegal handguns; it is rare to have multiple shooter incidents - in fact I cannot readily recall one. The one I can was long ago, the 1911 Sidney Street siege, involving Russian anarchists, with automatic weapons, three policemen and a firefighter murdered:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sidney_Street