gun question for the British folk on my flist

[thrihyrne]

I'm writing a HP story and a character who's forced into being 'Mugglefied' has had it grudgingly suggested to him that he purchase a gun— for self-defense. Being in the States, our gun control is, well, pretty lax, depending on the state. How difficult is it to buy personal arms in the U.K. (this story is set in England proper, however), and, what I'm really wanting to know, are there semi-public ranges for people to learn how to shoot one? We have them here, the proverbial gun club, but I have the sense that they are far less prevalent in the U.K. Okay, I'll be honest; a year or so ago I wrote a story set in England and had someone shooting at a pesky raccoon and it was pointed out to me that that would be highly unlikely to happen in England, as opposed to many parts of the U.S.

Any comments are welcome!