How the Home Guard obtained weapons

The Home Guard's early equipment shortages are distinguished from its position throughout the war. Rearming the regular army after Dunkirk came first. Units in areas judged more vulnerable received equipment sooner, while others waited. Private stocks held by landowners, gamekeepers, farmers and the police also supplied weapons. A later reply describes gamekeepers retaining rifles they had used in the First World War. The farmer's stockpile in Hot Fuzz is compared with police anecdotes about large private collections, rather than used as evidence of a particular wartime unit's equipment. Standardised issue and actual access to weapons were therefore different questions.