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By Britons, I'm assuming that you mean the citizens of the United Kingdom? Don't forget that almost a quarter of the island of Ireland is also part of the UK, and they are not Britons, but Irish.
Yes, as I explone. ALL BP handguns that are loose-loading from the front are legal throughout the yUK. There are even MODERN revolvers that have been converted to shoot a small charge of Herco - about 4 -5gr - via #209 shotgun primers and a new cylinder.
But carry them, as in CCW?
Nossir.
In fact, a HUGE 'no'.
In yUK law, carrying a firearm with intent is a criminal offence, whether the intent is to protect yourself or to commit any kind of a crime. Having a gun 'handy' can be a poor excuse, as in 'standing behind the kitchen door in case of the fox', but it WAS accepted a few years back when a bunch of 'travellers/pikies/gypsies, tooled up with pry-bars et al, tried their luck on a couple in Leicestershire, both of whom were well-known county clay shooters. Obviously, this little snipped had passed by the pikies. All five of them got shot. Sadly, none died. At their trial the judge told them that breaking into a farmhouse where the owners 'were likely' to have guns, AND the will to use them in their own defence, would likely involve them getting killed next time they tried it. At the moment they all still have another nine years to consider his advice.
As of this moment, every person who has used a firearm to defend himself has walked. At least five of the BGs didn't.
Things are somewhat different in Northern Ireland, the location of much grief and woe over the last 47 years from urban/nationalist terrorism, as you may be aware, since much of the activities and arms of the PIRA were provided by naive Americans firmly believing that they were helping 'fellow Irishmen and women throw off the heavy yoke of oppression'. It took a mighty bomb in the centre of a little town, Omagh, back in 1998, and the slaughter of dozens of innocent people and the injuries of hundreds of others, to bring most of America to its senses about their 'brothers and sisters in the Cause'.
Because of the ongoing threat from national terrorists, there are about 3000 CCW permits on issue, along with the guns, too. Mostly members of the prison service, judiciary and police are affected, but there is nowhere else in Europe where the ordinary citizen is armed by the government for his or her own protection. A friend of mine over there, a retired senior police officer, carries a SIG of some kind, as does his wife. At home there are a couple of handy HK MP5s as well - just in case.
On the mainland, unless you actually NEED protection at gubmint level, you are on your own.
tac
