And these guys once held the most powerful empire on Earth?

It seems the British fall to pieces over a single round of .22 short ammunition. Some of the things said in the article are priceless:

The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.

So, the ammo (apparently, they're referring to more than just the "bullet") can fire itself? I guess that does sound kind of dangerous. Maybe it's just that sneaky Swiss ammo that does that--all the holes in the cheese had to come from somewhere, you know.

Even more bafflingly, this next part comes from a member of a gun club, and holder of one of Britain's rare firearms licenses:

Mr Khan said that if it had been struck hard enough or exposed to heat it could have gone off.

"This sort of thing should not be lying around. It was live, primed and active," he said. "But rather me pick it up than a little kid.

"How can you feel safe when you are finding things like this on the street?"

I wonder if he has any idea how little potential there is for danger in the event of a round (particularly one as feeble as a .22 short) going off while not contained by a firearm's chamber and barrel.

The good news is that, apparently, the police intend to get to the bottom of this horrible danger:

The bullet has been examined at a Metropolitan Police laboratory and details about it kept for future reference.

A police spokesman said: "Recovering firearms and ammunition is a priority for the police. We take the same view of ammunition as we do of a gun.

"If it goes bang, it is still lethal." [ed. note: that would explain all the firecracker deaths, I guess]

For all this lethality, the police response time doesn't seem all that impressive, though:

Police are treating the unattended ammunition as a crime. Mr Khan alerted them at 10.16am, and they arrived at his shop to pick up the bullet at 11.32am.

An hour and sixteen minutes to respond to a "potentially lethal crime"? Sound a little like the Chicago PD, don't they?

By the way, National Ammo Week has started--let's try to get as many gun owners as possible to buy at least 100 rounds by Sunday--and really scare the Brits (Are these really the same people who personified the idea of the "stiff upper lip," while enduring the most brutal and relentless aerial bombardment ever seen up to that point? How can a society become so thoroughly wussified in 65 years?).