And yet we are many times higher in gun deaths. The country with the highest gun ownership has the most gun deaths....SHOCKER! LOL
Put another way: Let's say you had two nations with identical rates of homicide and violent crime. One enacted gun control and saw increases in homicide and violence while the other expanded firearms freedoms and saw reductions in violence and improved public safety. Which policy would you then advocate for?? The fact that the UK has low homicide rates is actually immaterial since they ALREADY had low homicide rates even when they had what you call "lax" gun laws. They enacted gun control and their country became LESS SAFE. The U.S. has expanded the ability of people to defend themselves and gun ownership has grown dramatically in recent years.... and our homicide rate as a nation went DOWN, making people MORE SAFE. That is a far more valid yardstick for evaluating the effectiveness of gun control as far as I'm concerned.
I repeat: Nations that enacted gun control suffered increased crime and violence, including homicides. We went the other way and saw reductions across the board. Until you can show that gun control will reduce rates of homicide and violence then you have no valid argument to make.
Gun control does not stop all crime and violence. It does help curb gun violence which is an important compenent in reducing crime overall
Again, I have shown that gun control does NOT curb gun violence; as none of the nations with strict gun control saw any reductions in homicide or violent crime after enacting gun control, but generally showed increases instead. That is not "curbing" that is "exacerbating".
And I have shown quite clearly that lax gun laws and high gun ownership leads to higher gun deaths HERE IN THE US
You have made claims with questionable validation. I have shown quite clearly that your claims are flawed at best, downright bogus at worst. In the end, there is no example you can provide whatsoever where gun control laws were enacted and public safety was improved. NONE.
The point which nobody seems to want to address is that there is no wish amongst the majority of British people to return to legal ownership of handguns or for a relaxing of any of our tight gun laws. If you want to own a firearm for hunting purposes you can but you have to comply with strict regulations. Same with shotguns.
Regulations that have apparently done nothing beneficial that would otherwise justify their basic existence.
We can show UNEQUIVIOCALLY that states with lax gun laws and high gun ownership have high gun deaths For 2013, the 10 states with the highest firearm age-adjusted death rates were: Alaska (19., Louisiana (19.3), Mississippi (17., Alabama (17.6), Arkansas (16., Wyoming (16.7), Montana (16.7), Oklahoma (16.5), New Mexico (15.5) and Tennessee (15.4). The 10 states with the lowest firearm age-adjusted death rates were, starting with the lowest: Hawaii (2.6), Massachusetts (3.1), New York (4.2), Connecticut (4.4), Rhode Island (5.3), New Jersey (5.7), New Hampshire (6.4), Minnesota (7.6), California (7.7) and Iowa (8.0). Want to talk homicides? The 10 states with the highest homicide rates were: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, New Mexico, Missouri and Michigan. That lists includes six states that also have the highest firearm death rates.
Still not addressing the fact there is no interest in relaxing our gun laws. By the way, before the handgun ban they were still very tightly regulated. They were never in widespread use and mostly used for sports not self defence.
Thus meaning the prohibition on handgun ownership amounted to no measurable significant difference, thus meaning there is a significant absence for said restrictions even existing in the first place.
I also pointed this out as your earlier feeling on this, and that it likely represents the view of the common Body Politic in England as well. Their thinking is that any one of them would be unlikely to ever need a gun since the crime rate in England/Wales is relatively low.
The USA has 4 times the crime rate of England/Wales and this is a major justification for carrying guns in the USA. Query why so high in the USA? It is probably due to our 10% population of freed slaves, and another 17% of Latinos, both of whom contribute significantly to our crime in the USA. White people also commit crimes such that the ratio of the US prison populations is 1:2:6 (white:Latino:Negro). https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/rates.html
Which translates into a ratio of 1:8. Then you have to realize that White means anyone not Hispanic or Black which includes Asian, Middle Easterners and American Indians.
After a couple centuries of subtle brain washing, it's no wonder. Here's a bit of the history of gun control in the U.K. It's also a good read foe those that maintain the 2A protects our civil liberties and why I consider advocated positions a litmus test when voting. This should be read by those that see the creep of gun controls as a slippery slope that has ramifications on the rights we see guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. The article could be an OP for its own thread. By the way...see if you don't recognize the map of the Dems to ultimately ban guns and to restrict our civil liberties. I know those of you advocating increased gun controls will likely not read the article by disclaiming the web source, but it virtually destroys most of the arguments I have seen posted here and is one reason we should oppose most gun guntrols, specifically any sort of registration. For those advocating we do as did the U.K.... I say stuff it... I will be in the front line of the resistance. http://www.guncite.com/journals/okslip.html
Actually, in the early days of the 20th Century the UK had essentially no firearms regulation. In 1911 New York enacted the Sullivan Act, making the U.S. first in enacting gun control. At the time the UK's per capita homicide rate was lower than it is today... and the United States was higher.
See history of UK's gun control. You're correct the U K had lower gun violence rates prior to their enacting restrictions... http://www.guncite.com/journals/okslip.html
I thought you were kidding about the knife but you weren't! Do you live in a really dangerous place then? Your life sounds similar to an Xbox game! I've never felt the need to carry a weapon of any kind to feel protected whether in the UK or anywhere else in the world. Glad being armed makes you feel safe mate, hope you never have the need to use any of the weapons you carry.
There's less terrorism than there used to be - While we might be killing more of each other than we used to, at least we're not being killed by terrorists as much.
Hmmm you folks armed a lot of terrorists; still do. But, times are changing, you are on the brink, opposition is arriving on the Isle in droves and you all have little defense but sheep in the pubs.
The only place I have ever gone where I felt I actually needed the jack knife dagger was the old city of Jerusalem. I was alone walking around taking pictures, obviously a tourist, and 3 tall 20-something males started following me. When I crossed the street they crossed the street. When I immediately crossed it back they crossed it back. So I quietly drew out my jack knife dagger and opened it and gripped it like an ice pick and kept it very close to my right side so it was not obvious but if you looked closely you could see it. Then I turned around and walked directly at them. As I got closer the two on the outside looked at the one in the middle. The one in the middle looked at me and I looked at him and we locked our gazes. I walked passed them on their right (my right also) and as I did I kept looking at them and I made a basketball move and turned while walking and walked backwards keeping them in view as I kept walking away. The one on the outside turned his head and kept watching me and I fixed my gaze on him. He said something to the one in the middle and they kept going and did not follow me anymore.
If you get rid of guns you will create a knife culture. There will be no change in crime. There will be less gun crime, maybe, but more knife crime to make up for the slack.
Knife crime in the UK is on the increase - Apparently the numbers are as high as 2011. Our drinking culture makes guns a baaaaad idea - It would be a slaughter every weekend ;0) Do you think Americans are bigger targets for people that say British people? or do you think ts just paranoia?
