You do get both crazy people shootings and political attacks in the UK, i expect they dont make international news though. So there was a guy in the lake district this summer that drove round in his car gunning people down, and there was a depressed business man in london that started offloading a shotgun out of an office block or apartment window (cant rememver which), and an escaped prisoner with a shotty, that got tazered down. A politician was stabed in london in a very similar situation to the topic of this thread. But being a knife rather than a gun, no one else was hurt. Political murders, some times involving guns are not that uncommon in Northern Ireland, but then thats in some ways a political legacy of the UK government
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)#Perspectives_and_analyses_on_the_dayTo an extent the international press like to portray the US as a country with a major gun problem, and crazy southern problem, so whilst i find this news shocking, i dont find it supprising, and i doubt many in europe will. Having said this, our view of the southern US is probably rather unfair.
In the uk you can only legally own long barrel weapons, with a manual fireing mechanism (no semi, or full auto), so basically bolt action rifles, and twin barrel shotguns. You need a license, which requires clean record, and a reason for ownership, reasons are usually; member of shooting club, pest control, or hunting.