The gun laws in the UK came about from "common sense compromise" by the UK NRA.
The UK NRA endorsed many of the gun laws in the UK until it was "too late" to get public support behind the defense against more aggressive measures.
Sound familiar? It should. The US NRA has done the same thing and has historically been responsible for getting anti-gun laws passed without any contest. Gun laws are created by people that don't like guns, obviously. No one would restrict something they like. Even to this day the NRA is not a 2nd Amendment organization. They are a "we like some guns but not others" organization, just as they have been forever. "Ban the guns that we don't like but leave ours alone."
Too bad people don't understand incrementalism.
Grenades & Rockets -> Machineguns -> Short Barreled Rifles -> Sound Suppressors -> New Manufacture of any Controlled Items -> Guns that Look like Anything Banned -> Guns from other countries -> Guns with no Sporting Purpose -> Etc.
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.