Growing up in Germany, restrictions on gun ownership were just a way of life – you did not really consider owning one of those dangerous things.

That actually is not quite true in my case. I had once been beaten up by some drunken thugs, with an additional great danger of them doing something nasty to my little sister who was with me in the car. Fortunately, nothing happened in that department. At this time it occurred to me how great it would be to have the chance of self-defense, instead of just waiting till they were done with me and then putting a cold compress on my swollen eyes.

My thoughts went even a bit further. One of the baddies had actually been apprehended right away and went to the slammer for a while, and I was worried that he would hold a grudge because I had been the one who identified him.

So, I actually did file an application for a handgun license with the local police. To my surprise, a cop actually showed up at my house and interviewed me. I must have flunked interrogation badly because I never heard from them again. By the way, the baddie never actually showed up at my door to beat me up again.

About a decade later, the situation was remedied by the fact that I moved to the US. One of my first actions was to arm myself. Since then, things here in the US have gotten a lot more restrictive, and I had to give up my rocket launcher – – – just kidding, I only had a 50mm cannon!

But I kept an eye on all things connected with self-defense and gun restrictions. One of the countries with very strict laws against self-defense is, as far as I know, the United Kingdom. There you actually become a criminal when you defend yourself with deadly force.

Therefore, I was surprised when I got a link request from a British company – Farlows – that caters to shooters. On its website, it actually has keywords like Men’s and Women’s Shooting Jackets and Shooting Accessories. So there is a gun culture in Great Britain!

Even though this is all about sports, it is still comforting that even the Brits have not allowed their masters to disarm them totally. Once all this turns around, you will be able to buy rocket launchers in the finer shopping areas of London.