'still have' doesn't begin to describe it. shootings doubled in the first 5 years after the 97 ban and have kept rising since.
According to this
Gun Crime Report, there was a peak around 2003 and figures have been in decline since (fig 3). The variation seems to depend on ease of importing.
but the british are STILL convinced bans work and every time a shooting happens in the US they scoff at the US gun laws.
I'm not going to scoff, and I don't approve of the bans we instituted after Dunblane (nor similar tabloid-led legislation over the last 10 years). However, even in 2002 we had only 0.15 gun homicides per 100,000 people, and the USA had 3.98 (fig 6). So pro-rata, the USA has 26 times as many gun-killings as the UK. For whatever reason I think it is working better here than in America. Only around 0.2% of our recorded crime involves guns. It's a different culture. In general when the public encounter the police here, neither side expects the other to be armed.
Since we are hearing the benefits of your unarmed society, pray tell us about knife crime, and blunt objects please.
I was taught (Military and civilian law enforcement) there are only three viable defenses to either a knife or club attack:
1) Run, but that isn't always a viable option.
2) Shoot to stop the assailant, also not always the best option.
3) Don't get attacked. Guess that means becoming a shut-in alone.
I am sure there is little knife crime in the UK also. Surely that is why your constables are not issued special vests to prevent knife injury. Oh wait, they are given those vests, or buy them themselves. Guess that blows the whole no knife crime idea out of the water.
To each his own, but I intend on being able to protect myself, my family and other innocent folks within sight if I must. I prepare to do so with prayers I will never have to.
BTW, were those legal firearms and explosives the IRA used during the troubles?
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