Please tell me California Isn't this Bad!

[Decoligny]

That's what I instinctively think about first as well, but if you look at the murder/violent crime rate in the UK you may feel different. This is a country where the culture and government kept guns out. That worked for them. We don't live in a society where that's a realistic way of controlling violence. We live in a much different culture and society, so for us that doesn't work. When you live in a society where you don't have to fear guns, the need to have one becomes much less important.

U.S. Violent Crimes (FBI) by U.S. population (2010 Census):

1,246,248 / 308,745,538

This equates to 40.4 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the U.S.

UK Violent Crimes (www.statistics.gov.uk) by U.K. population (www.ons.gov.uk)

887,942 / 62,300,000

This equates to 142.5 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the UK

Unless the numbers reported are way off, this looks like the UK is a much more dangerous place than the U.S.

As I figure this, the UK has a violent crime rate that is roughly 350% that of the U.S.

How's that gun control working out for them? Not so great.

[Dreaded Claymore]

I do not know what happened to the normally stoic British in the face of Islamic terrorism during the last decade. A people who stood so proudly against Irish terror seem simply to have crumpled and surrendered most of their rights and dignity to the police (a dangerously corrupt and incompetent police, as the death of Jean Charles de Menezes and the ongoing Leveson inquiry have revealed). It is really a strange sight to see for someone who lived with them through part of the Troubles.

They must be following our example. After the World Trade Center was attacked, this country just plain lost it.

[MudCamper]

I can't even begin to explain how ridiculous this is.... the police are almost like children. It's like they taught them the eddie eagle program " stop don't touch leave the area tell a real fricken officer "

Yep. Those "police" are emasculated to the point that they can't even touch what is a child's toy here in the USA. Sad. And the manpower they are spending on this nonsense is almost as unbelievable.

[k1dude]

U.S. Violent Crimes (FBI) by U.S. population (2010 Census):

1,246,248 / 308,745,538

This equates to 40.4 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the U.S.

UK Violent Crimes (www.statistics.gov.uk) by U.K. population (www.ons.gov.uk)

887,942 / 62,300,000

This equates to 142.5 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the UK

Unless the numbers reported are way off, this looks like the UK is a much more dangerous place than the U.S.

As I figure this, the UK has a violent crime rate that is roughly 350% that of the U.S.

How's that gun control working out for them? Not so great.

And most violent crimes are vastly underreported. As the crime rate began to explode after they banned most firearms, the politicians began to mess with the way crime was reported to obfuscate the failure of the gun ban. The way they compile their statistics is skewed to reclassify most violent crimes as non-violent. I can't recall the details, but it's something along the lines of stuff like "armed robbery" is reclassified as "theft" and "assault" is reclassified as "disorderly conduct."

So the REAL violent crime rate is actually much higher than the reported rate.

So it's far worse than 350% greater than the US.

[Glock22Fan]

You guys crack me up, if you think that crime and brutal crime in the U.K. is far less per head than it is on the the streets or towns and cities in the U.S. Then go for a night out in Manchester, London, Liverpool, or Newcastle etc you will have neck pain from looking over your shoulder all the time, you will wish you were packing for protection.

There is a lawless cultural mindset in England and it has gotten worse as every year goes by. Coupled with the mass immigration in the past 2 decades has resulted in a society plagued with violence, and gun related crime. 2 decades ago it was virtually unheard of unless it was a mad man going on an isolated spree. Now guns have become the tool of choice and there is a big market for illegal guns.

The OP's video doesn't cover the real scale of what is going on over there, its just a snippet of what the U.K. police now are dealing with. They have had to re think there policies and tactics to stem the tide of gun violence. In doing so, if they get wind of any crime that might involve guns be it a air rifle, then they now treat it as if there looking for a MAC 10.

You want to get a real perspective on the tough or as you put it not so tough U.K. police then Youtube CO 19 Armed police and watch the many videos detailing there training and crime fighting.

Lastly i have always felt a hundred percent more safe walking the streets of Oakland Chicago and L.A. than i ever did living in the U.K.

Just go there and get that over your shoulder feeling.

As someone who lived for over fifty years in England, I agree. There are plenty of places I feel safe in England, and plenty I don't feel safe. Just as there's plenty of places over here I feel safe and plenty I don't. Even back in my youth, we well knew that people of my culture did not go anywhere near the Bamboo Club in Bristol after nightfall, and preferably not in daylight either.

Over there, you are more likely to get accosted by drunken yobs (boys spelled backwards), aka bovver boys (bother boys). They are unlikely to have guns, but knives, broken bottles, bricks etc. are common. Many of them wear steel toe-capped boots, so as to do more damage when they kick you. Flat caps with razor blades sewn into the peak are not unknown, especially in Northern Britain. Bag snatching in the streets is also common

And yes, hot home invasions are more common as well. There've been cases where kids have been beaten to get parents to show where the valuables are, open safes etc.

As far as the Gov keeping guns out, stories in the press are perennial from reporters going into pubs in inner city areas and walking out with a .38 and ammo. Usual cost, about 5-600 bucks. And don't forget, a few years back in Manchester on New Year's Eve, a driveby shooting with a gaggle of fully automatic UZI's. And if you can't get guns, there was a high school massacre, hardly got any publicity, where a disgruntled kid killed quite a few students in an exam room with a flame thrower he made by putting gasoline into a fire extinguisher.

Culture does make a big difference. There are countries with more guns and more crime, and countries with more guns and less crimes. And vice versa.

Brits are brainwashed into thinking that their communities are safer because of the hard line on firearms. They may be a little safer, but not because of gun control.

[DrDavid]

U.S. Violent Crimes (FBI) by U.S. population (2010 Census):

1,246,248 / 308,745,538

This equates to 40.4 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the U.S.

UK Violent Crimes (www.statistics.gov.uk) by U.K. population (www.ons.gov.uk)

887,942 / 62,300,000

This equates to 142.5 violent crimes per 10,000 people in the UK

Unless the numbers reported are way off, this looks like the UK is a much more dangerous place than the U.S.

As I figure this, the UK has a violent crime rate that is roughly 350% that of the U.S.

How's that gun control working out for them? Not so great.

Getting rid of guns just changes the manner in which you are killed. Would you rather be shot to death, or beaten to death with a baseball bat? It doesn't make you safer--it just makes you die different.

(Edited to add.. Plus, lots of people with guns is actually a deterrent to crime. Would you go duck hunting if some of the ducks shot back?)

[Decoligny]

Getting rid of guns just changes the manner in which you are killed. Would you rather be shot to death, or beaten to death with a baseball bat? It doesn't make you safer--it just makes you die different.

(Edited to add.. Plus, lots of people with guns is actually a deterrent to crime. Would you go duck hunting if some of the ducks shot back?)

Guns do a whole lot more than change the way you are killed. They change the whole dynamic. A group of five thugs in the UK don't think twice about beating a lone person half to death, because they have the advantage. The odds are not equal, and the danger is not equal. A group of five thugs in an encounter with one man with a gun are not so likely to try to beat him half to death. A 300 lb rapist is not a threat to a 100lb woman with a 1911 at the ready.

A society with no access to firearms will enevitably have more violence perpetrated by the strong against the weak, because there is no "great equilizer". The gun is that great equilizer.

[Glock22Fan]

Guns do a whole lot more than change the way you are killed. They change the whole dynamic. A group of five thugs in the UK don't think twice about beating a lone person half to death, because they have the advantage. The odds are not equal, and the danger is not equal. A group of five thugs in an encounter with one man with a gun are not so likely to try to beat him half to death. A 300 lb rapist is not a threat to a 100lb woman with a 1911 at the ready.

A society with no access to firearms will enevitably have more violence perpetrated by the strong against the weak, because there is no "great equilizer". The gun is that great equilizer.

Exactly. And most gangs of thugs I've seen in England tend to be larger in number. Near a soccer stadium, after a match, the rampaging drunk fans can number thousands. And if you're obviously a fan, and you run into a gang of opposition fans (especially if they lost), then watch out indeed. Mind you, anyone with any sense stays away from such areas, or at least travels in strength (bus loads).

Oh yes, I've just remembered another name used over there, "Lager louts."

[Bhobbs]

Ok, it's not that bad, yet.

[jimx]

As I point out furthur down, its not wholly accurate to comapre these numbers across the board, but according to the EU/UN. The US violent crime rate is 466 per 100,000. The UK's is 2,034. That is markedly higher in my opinion. (numbers from 2009 the US numbers have gotten even lower. I dont know about the UK)

Quick and dirty.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CFsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuknews%2Flaw-and-order%2F7922755%2FEngland-has-worse-crime-rate-than-the-US-says-Civitas-study.html&ei=XhPUT83ZLeKL2AWrweWUDw&usg=AFQjCNGLRLtwuQ3S5vkI7nwbSYuCpK34lQ&sig2=lR6vBpb-Yqy3NfWSCqbflQ

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196941/The-violent-country-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html

This is from a blog, but it has links to the UN/EU study numbers. This data is all from around 2006/7 The latest year available I think.

http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/2009/07/people-refuse-to-believe-this-is-true.html

http://wheelgun.blogspot.com/2007/01/crime-in-uk-versus-crime-in-us.html

What happend over there?

Wow, not just England but 9 other EU country's... More Violent crime in Canada and Luxembourg that the US...

The U.S. has a violence rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents, Canada 935, Australia 92 and South Africa 1,609.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1xmTHYszT

[SanPedroShooter]

Yes indeed it is suprising. I still maintain that a lot of these numbers must be looked at sceptically, and they just dont compare across the board.

I will say that any place where criminals have more rights than the law abiding (most of the first world) are doing it *** backwards.

I also wonder even if guns made a free society a more dangerous place, would I still not be entitled to carry one for defense? I always wonder how people that have some anecdotal horror story about their neighbor shooting their own dog or whatever relates to my pre existing natural right to defend my life and property.

I will not be convinced that the free mans inherent right to life and property, and the right to protect it, is subject to some nebulous 'collective good'. Guns are force equalizer and force for good everywhere they are used by free people in defense. The fact they can have a potential, even a high potential, for misuse leaves me cold. I am just not personally interested further than locking up and throwing away the key of anyone that offends and abuses our first freedom. There is nothing more wicked than abusing the rights of man to harm or kill innocents.

The only collectivism I support is the sacrifices we all must pay to live in a free society. These gun law 'compromises' do little or nothing to stop crime, and they leave the honest at a disadvantage. That is immoral and wrong.

Here is something our friends left behind in Europe cant quite grasp about America:

We on this continent should never forget that men first crossed the Atlantic not to find soil for their ploughs but to secure liberty for their souls. ~Robert J. McCracken

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine