Guns of all kinds were sold virtually everywhere, and even someone as young as 12 years old could purchase a firearm, providing they had sufficient funds...
Gun control began in Britain during the "Great Socialist Awakening" at the turn of the century..
Workers demanding better wages and work conditions gathered under socialist and union (labor) banners and marched, demonstrated, and sometimes, rioted..
The British government responded by planting stories of a rise in criminal offenses involving guns, emphasising them in the government controlled press at every opportunity..
The British population, conditioned by the anti-gun propaganda, accepted gun control laws without much of a fuss..
By the beginning of WW2, Britain was disarmed, to the extent that the NRA created a national campaign to send guns to Britain for the Home Defense forces..
Hundreds of thousands of privately owned firearms, pistols, rifles and shotguns, were gathered and sent to Britain..
They were not returned at the end of the war, they were simply gathered up and destroyed..
( more than you ever wanted to know about Britain and gun control.. )
It's certainly true that socialism and gun control are highly correlated.