Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Correct. However, if the correlation "More Guns=More Violent Crime, Less Guns=Less Violent Crime" were true, the above sets of facts would not exist. It would not be such a neat and obvious case, IMO: either the US would have a violent crime rate which is also increasing (which it isn't) or the UK would have a violent crime rate which was also decreasing (which it isn't.) Instead, the two are polar opposites: the country which "should" by Hoplophobe logic, be experiencing an increase in violent crime...isn't. And the country which should be seeing a decline...isn't. There are other factors at play, yes. But the illegality in the UK of most forms and types of self-defense, along with weapons therefore, cannot be discounted as a contributing factor. This even holds when compared to more gun-friendly European countries such as Switzerland, Norway, or the Czech Republic: all of which have higher rates/incidences of gun-ownership and lower rates of violent crime than the UK.
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UK = 5 guns owned per 100 people. 40 gun murders a year
US = 90 guns owned per 100 people. over 10,000 gun murders a year.
I accept that this is a reduction from the high of around 20,000 per year a few years ago, but even if the US level fell 95% overnight, it would still be many times more dangerous to be in the US than the UK.
Sadly, you and I will never see eye to eye on this - we should both realise that by now.
