Guns in the UK (as was, so including Ireland) were much more readily available than now. Same with France (post 1885 to 1935). Sometimes on Forgotten Weapons Gun Jesus has characteristically French guns like small pistols for women. Wartime (WWI & WWII, so after WWI the Firearms Act of 1920 was a reaction to the great fear of Red Revolution and related subversion) plus Irish societal stressors like the Irish Civil War and later Troubles (some who were threatened by the Provisional IRA and Loyalists were allowed handguns in Northern Ireland, while for Éire strict laws in the 1920s were just retained and strengthened) saw to far stricter gun laws. UK gun massacres like Hungerford (1988) Dunblane in 1996 saw the end of most leeway. Now guns are essentially only for those with a verifiably good reason like a hunter or farmer or target shooter who stores ammo and guns separately and securely, Irish laws are probably even stricter than the UK, yet there are some 234,000 legal guns in Ireland, mostly rifles for handguns are effectively illegal except for certain very strict categories of users, like certain sports people, existing holders of grandfathered handgun licenses and obviously police officers (most are unarmed but Armed Response units need them).
A 2A would be nice in Europe, but it won't be possible. It might be noted that not everywhere is as strict as the UK, but I don't think anywhere has a situation similar to the US, even Switzerland.