As an American gun-hobbyist, the approach you've mentioned is one I could appreciate. While I grew up learning to shoot with my father, and would be quiet displeased if I had to "get rid of" rifles which have been in my family for generations, I'll happily acknowledge that there is clear issue of access to guns by the mentally unstable.

It seems to me, that the gun issue as it exists in America is often very misunderstood by many Europeans who have experienced a very different environment. I wonder sometimes, how exactly they think "getting rid of the guns" would go. Would we as law-abiding citizens be expected to turn them in? Would the government fine those who didn't? Or would they just turn up at our door? I can assure you, it's dubious that any of those ventures would go well.

But even if we were able to somehow round up all legally acquired firearms, the amount of illegal guns just floating around the US would present a very large threat to a population who criminals are now aware can no longer defend themselves. I appreciate that the concern of many Europeans seems to stem from their worry for human lives, and is shaped by their own inexperience with guns and the American social and political environment, but I can't help but feel that a lot of these opinions are very condescending and yet very uninformed.

I would never presume to make expansive claims about what the UK should or shouldn't do within their own sovereign borders without having extensive knowledge of the subject, which I simply do not possess. Which is why I appreciate your perspective as someone who does have some experience, and uses it to relate rather then to paternalistically instruct.