When the handgun ban came into effect it was breathtaking in its reach. At Wilkinson Sword we were required to surrender all of the pistols in our museum, despite the fact that we held RFD License #17! The reason given was two fold: (1) as a "private" museum we were not exempt (although the law made no specific difference between private and public museums) and (2) although we were registered as firearms dealers (RFD) the sale of firearms was not our primary business and therefore the license was considered to be a "mere excuse" for the holding of prohibited firearms.

Like Jock Scot said there really are now very few legally held handguns in the UK.