Great Britain has a problem. Kind of like Chicago.
Gun crime in Britain is up 600% since 1978.
“More guns caused this!” morons would say.
Well, in the late 1990s, Britain banned handguns and severely restricted long guns. The numbers of guns in the hands of British subjects (not citizens… as armed men are citizens) are way down.
Crime since the Dunblane massacre ban on weapons has more than doubled!
Gun crime soars by 35%
(UK Daily Mail) – The Government’s latest crime figures were condemned as “truly terrible” by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year.
Criminals used handguns in 46% more offences, Home Office statistics revealed.
Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362.
It was the fourth consecutive year to see a rise and there were more than 2,200 more gun crimes last year than the previous peak in 1993.
Figures showed the number of crimes involving handguns had more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871.
Unadjusted figures showed overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3%, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.
With new recording procedures taken into account the actual overall rise was just 2%, the Home Office said.
Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said: “These figures are truly terrible.
“Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are gun-related crimes, domestic burglary, retail burglary, and drug offences.
“The only word for this is failure: the Government’s response of knee-jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.
Like Chicago all right, notice how the unadjusted numbers aren’t correct, but the “new” procedure lowers them. Imagine that.
The procedure for the figures, not how crime is handled or prevented.
Skew the numbers all you want. It always boils down to higher crime in areas the good guys can’t arm themselves. Let citizens arm themselves and recidivist scumbags start getting weeded out. It’s a win for everyone but the families that whine about their shithead felon relative “that was a good boy”. Reality is a bitch.
The article is dated Jan 2003….
Yes, the original article is dated from 2003 and it points out that gun crimes stats went from 2,600 in 97-98 to 5,800 in 2003. If you do some more research you will find it’s only gotten worse with 11,200 from April 2010 to March or 2011.
It’s funny how people won’t do further research unless its done for them. Also look at Washington DC. Their crime rate also rose after they banned handguns.
The law makers can’t tell any difference in the rate of gun crimes in DC, cause where they live and work are surrounded by armed security, why would a criminal want to go near that when there are easier victims around.
Its time for gun hater Piers morgan to go back home where its safe in the UK.
Please no!!!!
You can keep him – we’ll pay! 😉
Oh man, thank you Mike the Limey for that much needed laugh right now.
What you Americans never realised was that he is a ‘nobody’ in the UK. All he had done was be the editor of a newspaper and be very unpopular. Please feel free to keep him as Mike says…
Ignorance in abundance.
It is!
Oops.
Sorry folks.. Cannot be true. They have gun laws that stop these types of misdeeds.. Must be a Conservative conspiracy against the Monarchy. I mean, look how well gun control is working in Chicago! Oh, wait… never mind.
oh yeah gun control works great here in Chicago. ….only 5 people were shot this Thursday night. But.they have 177 more days to.write our.ccw law and I know they will go. All California on us here
According to UN crime statistics the UK with a population of 60 million had a total of 1,158,957 violent crimes in 2010. The United States with a population of over 300 million experienced 1,246,248 violent crimes in that same period.
Make all the arguments and apologies you like, the simple math is that a person is five times more likely to be a victim of violent crime in the gun free UK as in wild west America.
The figures are somewhat skewed by what our nations define as “violent crime”, with having someone wag a finger in your face or shout at you being so classified if the “victim” states they feared an escalation “might” happen.
The reality is that the UK still has more than double the violent crime rate of the US based on a similar definition of violence.
The UK homicide rate is much lower than the US – the only kind of crime which is more prevalent in the US.
I have to say the banning of handguns in the UK had little or no effect on crime, as their use was already highly restricted. What DID cause a significant rise was the removal in the 1950s of self defence as a “good reason”(as required by law) to possess a firearm.
One positive move here is the recent ruling that burglars are not protected by Law from being shot when they invade someone’s home.
I would dearly love to see the restrictions upon our RKBA here removed but I can’t see it happening:-(
Glad Im not planning to go there anytime soon. I wouldn’t feel safe there. They support criminals. This can be plainly be observed by the fact that they don’t want their citizens, oops soory, peasents to defend themselves from crime.
If I were President, I would require everyone to have a handgun for personal protection, a shotgun for home protection, and a rifle in case the bastard tries to get away
Your hired!
Agreed
2nd and has my vote as long as he is an American unlike what we have right now !
The British must have forgot the shitstorm they touched off when they tried to disarm the Colonists.
Same thing happened in Brazil. They banned ALL weapons in 2004(?) and since then criminality has taken over. They are even exterminating police officers all over the place. Belive it or not, our weapons are being” exported” over there thru the porous inland borders all accross south america. Armed society = polite society.
Our goverment is behind the increase in guns.The undercover operation has been called”FISH AND CLIPS”.
Idiots!
My simple opinion is the law should be written this way.
“You have the right to own a firearm and use it in defense of your life, home, or others. If you do not have the ability to obtain a firearm for your own use, one will be awarded to you by the government of the United States. You therefore have the responsibility to learn how to use it properly, and profeciently.
You also have the right not to own a firearm, or help others if you do not “believe” in firearms. However do not rely on the kindness others for your protection, you may be shit out of luck.
Lol
Gun control requires a good site picture. Don’t agree? Well then ask any Marine. BTW ex-Marines Brit/US don’t matter(I know once a….always..)rarely are or become felons. I have also never seen a statistic about the percentage of dishonorably discharged service members that go on to pursue felonious occupations. Which EU counry has the highest amount of firearms in civilian control? Hint it is the one with lowest crime rate. It also has not fought a war in 900 years.
Let’s see.
Alex, can I have “Switzerland” for $1000?