British gun control under fire: Activist MP says disarming citizens is state control, not safety

In Victorian London, a gentleman carrying a service revolver was unremarkable. In modern Britain, according to a new opinion essay published by American Thinker, self-defense has become a criminal offense—and the state prefers it that way.

The piece, written by William Grice, draws on Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet to illustrate the cultural shift. In the 1887 novel, Dr. Watson is told by Sherlock Holmes to clean and load his revolver before confronting a dangerous man. Grice argues that such a scene is now ‘alien’ to Britain, where strict gun laws have left ordinary citizens disarmed.

From Dunblane to disarmament

Grice traces the change to the 1996 Dunblane Massacre, after which the UK Parliament passed what he calls ‘extraordinarily restrictive’ Firearms Acts that effectively banned private handgun ownership across Great Britain. Since then, he writes, law-abiding Britons—whether police officers, teachers, or clergy—face ‘strict restrictions on weapons’ unless they join the armed forces or police.

The essay quotes Rupert Lowe, leader of the Restore Britain party and a Member of Parliament, speaking on The Joe Rogan Experience. According to Grice, Lowe argued that ‘they don’t want the public to have guns’ and that Britain ‘needs radical change’ to ‘release the individual.’

Grice acknowledges that a ‘privileged few’—landed gentry with shotgun certificates, gamekeepers, and some target shooters—still have access to weapons. But he argues that the ‘wall of red tape’ reflects a ‘clear rejection of liberty’ and treats the idea of a free citizen arming himself as ‘completely illegitimate.’

Police marksman trial sparks controversy

The essay highlights a recent case that Grice says has dampened enthusiasm for armed policing. A police marksman was put on trial for murder after stopping Chris Kaba, a black gang member who, according to Grice, was using an SUV as a weapon against police. Grice notes that Kaba’s vehicle was linked to escalating violence, including a shotgun fired outside a primary school and a previous shooting at a nightclub.

‘A good thing Sherlock wasn’t on the case, then,’ Grice writes, imagining Holmes telling Watson to hide his revolver rather than load it, for fear of an Armed Crime Unit raid.

Gun culture and double standards

Grice, who says he fired a 20-gauge shotgun as a boy and trained with the British Army Reserve’s SA80 rifle, describes his frustration with UK restrictions. He contrasts Britain’s stance with his own experience firing a Glock 17 and a CZ .22 rimfire rifle in Thailand, which he calls ‘a blast.’

The essay then takes a sharper turn, arguing that UK authorities disdain firearms pursuits ‘when undertaken by white Britons’ while ‘Europe is being flooded daily with military-aged male illegals.’ Grice cites Pakistani rape gangs and terror attacks as examples, and criticizes immigration policies that he says allow some migrants to bring family members without meeting income requirements, while British citizens marrying foreign nationals face a £29,000 minimum income threshold and visa fees.

He suggests that genuine refugees—including Afghan schoolgirls, Christian Karenni from Burma, and South African Boer families—are ‘completely crowded out by this predatory invasion.’

The case for an armed populace

Grice speculates that the UK government doesn’t want an armed population because community militias with SA80 rifles could defend the English Channel from ‘recreational speedboats’ and leave politicians ‘red-faced.’ But he concedes this is a ‘fantasy scenario,’ as rules of engagement would likely compel Border Force and the Royal Navy to stop such action.

‘Nothing offends the modern British state quite like self-defense, especially pre-emptive,’ he writes, blaming human rights lawyers like Lord Hermer for making ‘self-preservation’ a crime.

An American lesson

Grice concludes by invoking the American Founding Fathers, arguing that the Second Amendment is ‘the ultimate check on state overreach.’ He writes that a disarmed populace is not a peaceful society but ‘a conquered one.’

While he says full Second Amendment rights ‘might go too far’ for Britain, he advocates granting weapons to ’emotionally mature, active community members’ and ‘all native-born women,’ citing the case of Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese migrant who he says attempted to behead a man with a kitchen knife in Belfast.

‘Some Americans don’t know how precious their Bill of Rights really is,’ Grice writes, calling for the ability to speak freely as ‘crucial to the republic we cherish.’

The essay appears on American Thinker, a conservative US website, and reflects the author’s personal views. It does not present new reporting but rather a commentary on existing gun laws and cultural trends in the UK.

Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/08/the-british-nanny-state-no-guns-allowed/