
Britain's first Bitcoin heist as trader forced at gunpoint to transfer currency - iamben
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/28/britains-first-bitcoin-heist-trader-forced-gunpoint-transfer/
======
towndrunk
Wait... I thought they banned guns in the U.K.

~~~
tomalpha
Handguns are banned.

Shotguns are relatively easy to obtain a license for (albeit with a reference
check, medical history check, criminal record check and in-home-interview by
police).

Bolt action rifles (generally only .22) licensing is more stringent.

Anything beyond that is theoretically possible but in practice not.

Some 580k people possess such firearms licenses in the UK[0].

Depending on who you believe estimates of illegal gun ownership range from a
few thousand[1] to half-a-million[2].

That’s dwarfed by most other countries, but none of those figures are anywhere
near zero.

Gun crime is still generally considered to be a Big Thing and reported as such
in the media. Something like this story is juicy enough to sell page
impression and print newspapers.

[0] [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearm-and-
shotg...](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firearm-and-shotgun-
certificates-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-march-2017/firearm-
and-shotgun-certificates-in-england-and-wales-financial-year-ending-
march-2017#headline-figures)

[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/28/rising-
number-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/28/rising-number-of-
guns-being-smuggled-into-uk-metropolitan-police-say)

[2] [https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/4-million-guns-uk-
stre...](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/4-million-guns-uk-
streets-7598164)

