In Britain there's a general consenus between the government, the police and criminals that the only people who should have guns are the government, the police and the criminals, ordinary law abiding members of the public being totally untrustworthy to possess such dangerous items.
The current state of play regarding firearms is something like this:
Automatic firearms: These have never been legal in Britain, (or if they were they became a prohibited weapon before the Second World War).
Self loading rifles: Things like the AR-15, the SLR, the Garand and the Ruger Mini 14, these were all banned after the Hungerford massacre in 1987.
Bolt action rifles: Actually including all mechanical action weapons, bolt action weapons like the SMLE or the latest polymer stock sniper's rifle, lever action "carbines" like the Winchester, straight pull bolt action versions of the above mentioned self loaders, it is legal for members of the public to own these, though they have to kept in a secure "gun safe". Interestingly after the handgun ban a new type of began to become popular with the former pistol shooters, the sawnoff lever action carbine. Basically a Winchester with the butt stock remove to leave only a pistol grip and the barrel and tube magazine reduced in length to six or so inches. This seemed to cause some surprise in government circles as people who had been shooting for years actually found a way to continue dispite their elected representatives making it quite clear that they objected to such practices!
Shotguns: Also still legal, though only doubles barreled ones, pump action and semi auto models being made illegal after Hungerford. I believe that up until Dunblane all you needed to legally own a shotgun was a "shotgun certifcate", a sort of lower class firearms licence, since then the requirements have been stiffened.
Handguns: It is illegal for a member of the public to possess a handgun of any type or calibre in England, Scotland or Wales. I believe there are certain expections to this, i.e. muzzel loading single shot weapons, blackpowder revolvers, (the early type were you load each chamber in the cylinder with powder and then a ball before placeing a percussion cap on the nipple of each cylinder) and bolt action target pistols that fire rifle ammo. Otherwise pistols from .22 to .45acp are banned, even Britain's Olympic and Commonwealth Games pistol teams have to go to the Channel Islands to practice. You'll notice that Northern Island is left out of the above. In the province which has some of the strictest guns laws within the UK members of various "special groups" are allowed to own handguns for personnel protection. These special groups are generally people who are either former Loyalist or Republican terrorists or those linked to them.
The police are responsible for issueing firearms licences and anyone wanting one must be a member of a gun club and provide a "valid reason" to own a firearm. Self protection is not considered a valid reason and to request a licence for such would probably get you a night in the cells and the undivided attention of a couple of CID officers who'd be most interested in "who you want to shoot".
Since the handgun ban gun crime has risen in the UK, as has the presence of armed police on our streets with some forces now mounting regular armed patrols in high gun crime areas (in Britain it is the local senior officers who decide when and where a police force is armed not local or national government) and there is some talk that Britain will have an armed police force witin twenty years. I doubt the gun ban has effected the amount of armed crime in any way, the rise being caused by an increase in drug related crime rather than a suddenly dissarmed populace.
