Sad, Wonderful Great Britain By NEAL KNOX LONDON, England (June 19) -- For several days the British newspapers have been reporting a three-fold increase in gun crime in the past decade, and senior police officials are muttering about the need for additional gun laws -- in a nation whose gun owners can scarcely breathe without police permission. If I needed anything to fire up my enthusiasm for the fight to protect our own precious right to own and use firearms, this trip has provided it. There had never been a case of a legally owned semi-auto military style rifle being used in a violent crime before a lunatic named Michael Ryan killed 13 people with one in the peaceful country village of Hungerford in 1987. As a result of his act, with utter disregard for facts, statistics, logic and reason, the Thatcher government crammed through a repressive new series of gun laws which forced respected citizens to surrender thousands of fine self-loading competition and hunting rifles for token payments; which gave the police even more arbitrary powers to deny the ownership of any firearm; which brought even break-open shotguns within the ever- tightening coils of Britain's gun control anaconda. The fact that what Ryan did had never happened before made no difference. Nor did the fact that he had an illegally owned Thompson submachinegun -- and less exotic guns -- with which he could have done the evil deed during his several-hour rampage. The fact that the same kinds of things happen in the legislatures of the U.S., and across the rest of the "free" world is one of the main reasons I have been in England: to meet with, to learn from, and if possible, to help our compatriots. While having a tremendous time. NRA President Bob Corbin was chiefly responsible, having traveled to Australia last fall to broaden the dialogue with members of the Australian Shooting Sports Council, whose representatives have attended NRA's last two annual meetings. Bob -- who conducted some 30 press interviews during his stay -- was welcomed to Australia by a newspaper report that he and his wife had slipped into the country the previous day with a boatload of guns. And we think our press is bad! Last fall, during the Palma Match at Raton, N.M., John de Havilland, chairman of the British NRA, invited Bob to select a three-member team of "not necessarily your best shooters" (which is how I qualified) for an informal competition on the Isle of Islay, off the southwest coast of Scotland. The ranges would be 1,500 yards to 1 1/2 miles, at a 20 x 12-foot metal target with a four-foot bull. Using 7.62 (.308 Winchester cartridge) rifles! The Brits kept adjusting the rules so that we Colonials -- George Tubb, Jim Carlson and I, with help from our wives -- won, by four points after three days of competition, using their rifles, ammo and coaching. Mainly, we shot with vernier sights and 2X diopters in the classic Creedmoor back position, except for George, who cobbled a prone sling onto Michael Davis' rifle and shot a range record 40x50 at 2,640 yards in a strong crosswind -- including three "r- r-ringing bools," as the Scottish gamekeeper sang out over the radio. We were hosted at Dunlossit, the fabulous, beautifully restored, castle-like Scottish estate of Piffa Schroder, a charming and accomplished member of the British rifle team. Sadly, Bob Corbin had to cancel when he wife became ill. The last afternoon, in excellent conditions after the "competition" was over, my wife and I each shot 39's at 1,800 yards. Then the Brits' armorer, Scotman Martin Brown, fired his last ten rounds into an incredible 64x20-inch group that scored 47x50, with seven "r-r-ringing bools," four in a row almost touching just above the center pin. This entire trip -- including that extreme-range shooting, culling two "marauder" red deer stags with a 7x57 Rigby at Dunlossit, shooting a fine Hussey & Hussey double on Sporting Clays and a Webley-Fosbery automatic revolver on the famed Bisley shooting grounds, and meetings with many of the British firearms groups -- has been unforgettable. And, like every trip out of the United States, it has made me deeply appreciative of the legacy the drafters of the Second Amendment left up to us to protect. ---- (c) 1993 by Neal Knox and Associates. All Rights Reserved.