Vernon and his Rifle

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97475

Caius Marcius 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?


Carol:
I don't know anything about gun laws in Britain or anywhere else, but
I'm pretty sure that SS/PS takes place in 1991, so gun laws could have
changed between that time and 1997, the copyright date of the book.

Carol, who usually skips the filks but enjoys yours when she reads them