Vernon and his Rifle

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 97014

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Caius Marcius"
<coriolan_cmc at h...> wrote:
> A question:
> 
> In Chap. 3 of SS/PS, in his mad flight from Little Whinging, Vernon 
> disappears briefly and returns "carrying a long, thin package and 
> didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought." Later, 
> when Hagrid enters at the beginning of the next chapter, we discover 
> Vernon "holding a rifle in his hands -- now they knew what had been 
> in the long, thin package he had brought with them."
> 
> Now, even in the US most places now have a waiting period of a few 
> days As I understand it, Britain's gun control laws are much stricter 
> than America's. Could Vernon have purchased a rifle so quickly in 
> late 1990s Britain?
> 
>    - CMC

bboy_mn:

don't know about the UK but in the US private sales, that is private
person to private person rather than business to private person, are
not regulated to the same degree. Usually these sales can occur quite
easily, especially if it involved a common hunting rifle rather than a
handgun or military style weapon.

I suspect Vernon got the gun from the same person who rented him the
boat and the hut on the rock.

just a thoght.

bboy_mn