Re: Mozilla are only partly right
If it came down to a choice between banning guns and increases in gun crime, I'd be leaning to the prior.
However, that's not really what was said now was it. We live in a country with strict checks and rules, so that those who do have guns have a legitimate reason to do so, and are safe people to have them. Its why our gun crime is so low.
Our crime actually isn't that low. It can only be described as low by comparison to the USA, which is a meaningless comparison worthy only of politicians and charlatans.
The UK has the most restrictive firearms legislation in Europe. Mainland UK (England/Scotland/Wales) is the only place in Europe where you cannot (with the proper license) possess a target pistol or semi-auto rifle for target shooting in an Approved Club.
Having effectively banned all pistols and a big subset of rifles, you would expect our crime rates to be lower than our European counterparts. But the Intentional homicide rates for Europe (homicides per 100k people) tell a different story:
[USA: 5.35]
Finland: 1.42
France: 1.35
UK: 1.2
Germany: 1.18
Sweden: 1.08
Denmark: 0.98
Ireland: 0.8
Italy: 0.67
Poland: 0.67
Austria: 0.66
Spain: 0.63
Czech Republic: 0.61 (everything upto AK47s, concealed carry permits available for pistols!)
Netherlands: 0.55
Switzerland: 0.54
Norway: 0.51
Anyone who tells you that "countries with more guns have more crime/murders" is a charlatan, using a very selective set of statistics - because every country on that list has more guns per capita and more gun owners per capita than the UK. But most have much better homicide rates!
What makes the difference between the USA and everybody else is licensing. Once you have a sane and rigorous licensing system in place, actually banning specific types of firearm has negligible or even zero impact on firearms crime and violent crime.
For instance, the most common firearm used in crime in the UK is a pistol. Well we banned them, so it can't be the fault of licensed shooters. They're certainly not coming from the white market because there isn't one! Quite simply it comes down to enforcement - i.e. the rise in UK violent crime since 2011 is attributable to cuts to frontline police numbers - not because we need to ban more guns. Anyone who tells you we need to ban more firearms to [cut crime/protect the public] is a liar or a fool. An outright ban on all firearms would not cut UK crime or homicide stats. Having more Police would, but that's expensive and doesn't make good headlines!
We could actually wind back UK firearms licensing to a more European model with no negative impacts. Crime rates will track whether we maintain the austerity cuts to Police staffing, not whether people are allowed to shoot Olympic Target Pistol in Home Office Approved Clubs.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
