Here in Scotland we can`t have airguns without a firearms license.
Harder to get a sect 1 firearms cert than a much more deadly shotgun certificate.
When i lived in England i used to have a couple of (expensive ) air guns for target shooting sold them about 20yrs ago when it looked like the law was about to change.(Dunblane and all that.)
My info might now be out of date as i have not owned guns since.(apologies if i am.)
However time changes ones perspective,I now have a cat i am very,very fond of,If some teenage tearaway shot him my response would be unprintable.