It is estimated that there are some 1,000,000 illegal firearms currently circulating in the United Kingdom, compared to 400,000 legally held rifles and pistols. That measures to around 20 illegal guns for every 1,000 people. A few years ago, the Guardian published an article on how easy it is to obtain an illegal firearm in the United Kingdom.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/30/ukcrime1And these people want to concentrate on kitchen knives and baseball bats.

I'm thinking a reasonable compromise would be to have a three foot stick of 1" rebar sitting around. That could be turned into a sword in a short period of time. Say two half hour periods. Granted it wouldn't have the beautiful grain structure...