I beleive the point is, if crime statistics are on the rise in the face of an all out gun ban, then the gun ban accomplished very little than to remove guns as an accidental source of death amongst the law abiding. Do the current crime statistics for Curval's island show criminal vs criminal crime is on the increase, or is it an increase of criminal victimizing the law abiding?
Toad what is being ignored that you set in motion is the overall increase in "CRIME" since firearms were banned or given up in the UK. You are being played for the wording of your question. You specified "GUNS" and in the UK deaths by "GUNS" has always been almost non-existant. So Curval and Co. have been correct in their assurtions as long as they stick to the rules of your original question. Kinda purial, but you stepped into it.
Crime has increased in the UK, Canada and Australia since their enactments of total or near total banning of gun ownership of the law abiding public. I do not know if this is because the criminal elements in each country are emboldend by the disarmement of the public or not. But they seem to be going hand in hand. The UK public are not being assaulted by firearms because it's a small island and easy to control the flow of goods in and out by the police. But the public is seeing an increase in violent crime by other methods.
Our american argument is that we are seeing a decrease in violent crime against the law abiding especially in those states that have shall issue laws, CCW laws and or do not infringe on the 2nd amendmant or state level constitutional right to keep and bare arms.
So from these differences one might suggest allowing the law abiding UK public to bare arms again or the UK become a super police state so that criminal activity can be responded to by a greater number of boots on the ground.