Zvezda wrote: I read that the UDA in Ulster was a legal organization till the early 90s and I wondered since the UK has very strict gun laws, can some you tell me what was the legal status of the guns those private armies stocked was? Is it like the organization was legal but the guns were illegal? Or did they get special permits for those arms? This would be interesting to me for in our Republic of Britain setting guns are generally illegal.
I think the UDA may have remained legal for such a long time because it maintained a (notional at least) separation from its paramilitary wing, maybe in a similar fashion to Sinn Fein and the IRA.
I'm not well versed in NI gun laws but I do remember in the late 70s or early 80s Ian Paisely addressing a massed rally of supporters who all had firearms certificates. I think they may have brought said pieces of paper with them and waved them in the air on being instructed to do so by the Reverend.
As I recall certain categories of people did carry firearms as a matter of course e.g. off duty police, army and reservists. I think politicians may have had the right to carry a gun as well. I'm sure there was a news story where a NI politico had a shoot out with some paramilitaries. Might have been relatively recent.
One other thing - mail order catalogues in the 70s used to sell air guns, but you couldn't order them if you lived in Northern Ireland.