Originally Posted by orca
Anyone wanting to replicate the US stance on firearms has either to be in complete denial of the facts or insane.
As near as makes no odds the US population is 311,500,000 - about five times that of the UK.
The US suffers roughly 12,000 murders a year of which about 8,000 are committed using firearms.
The UK suffers about 600 murders of which about 60 (in a bad year) involve firearms.
The totals for assault etc using a firearm are even more alarming.
Bureau of Justice Statistics Violent Crime Rate Trends
File:Violent-crime-rates-UK-1981-to-2007.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This table was derived from data found here (not by me):
http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdf...09chap2new.xls
2007: All violent crime
USA - 20.4/1000 adults
UK - ~48/1000 adults (480/10,000 adults)
Of course, there are differences in what is counted and how it is counted, for example the US includes rape but not other sexual assaults, while the UK includes all sexual assaults, but in general.....
In general the US actually sees less violent crime than the UK, which is described in European press as being the most violent country in Europe.