Outdoor World

For fellow subscribers from the U.S. please try to understand my position in relation to this image. I had just walked into an outdoor store. In the U.K. the nearest equivalent is Go Outdoors where I buy most of my clothes and equipment for my walks, hikes and wild camping.

In the Outdoor World Store I was faced with this view, a veritable arsenal of guns (along with revolvers, crossbows, etc). The difference in cultures between our two countries is never wider than when it comes to guns. The right to bear arms is set out in the U.S. Bill of Rights. In the U.K. the closest approximation is a prohibition on the carrying of an offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (Prevention of Crime Act 1953). So we have a strong divergence which probable helps explain the cultural difference.

I am uneasy at the availability of weapons as demonstrated by this store. I appreciate that the weapon does not kill, rather it is the person that uses it, but when weapons are so readily available they can get into the wrong hands.

I don't intend to be controversial, but hope you understand my difficulty in coming across this scene.