As it was explained to me, the approach is to make sure ( where persons of interest are concerned ) that the rifle they bought 1 yr ago or 4 yrs ago etc are still in their possession and still in the UK.
So - why not deal with the persons of interest then instead of all this stupid scaremongering and time wasting! Last I recall there was a wee register of what you had and shot at the club...."to help the police make sure you actually had a NEED for your guns" or such like!. Anyone who HAS disposed of a gun to the M.E. will have legged it by now since we told them what was going to happen.
Anyway, I am sure it is MUCH easier to get weapons over there, hell we are supplying them to every terrorist we can find one way or another! Nope, there's no reason at all that can really be justified when we are dumping weapons on moderate muslims left right and center and making things worse for ourselves in the long run.
The terrorism angle to do with radicalism here and prevention of a Mumbai type attack or some "self styled jihadi" running amok in the UK.
Oh I am sure they can get their hands on much better than anything we have locked away in our safe boxes if that is the plan - Ireland is just across the water, I am pretty sure there are folks there who could provide what's needed for a proper all out attack Mumbai style.