england bans guns and gun crime goes up.
"England" didn't ban guns, it restricted handguns even more than they were already. And gun crime went down following the ban, not up. Don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Lie? Are you sure it's a lie? Are your sure it hasn't happened? Crime rates haven't increased?
There was a change to the way crimes were recorded in England and Wales in 1997/98, which increased the recorded level of crime. The more accurate British Crime Survey, which questions people about actual crimes they have experienced, has shown a broad reduction in crime.
As regards gun crime, the number of offences has increased, but by far the largest category is air weapons, ie mainly kids trespassing with an air rifle, shooting at signs, windows etc.
The number of handgun robberies is lower now than it was in 1993.
Two statistics can give you an idea of how frequently guns are used in crime in England and Wales.
Firstly, the number of people convicted or cautioned for an offence under the firearms act:
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Cautioning(1)
rate (2001) %
Possession of firearms with intent to
endanger life or injure property
207 240 225 111 79 73 - 18%
Using firearms with intent to resist arrest
15 9 9 10 8 7 - 14%
Possessing firearms at time of
committing, or being arrested for,
an offence
61 77 84 70 95 81 - 23%
Possessing firearms with intent to
commit an indictable offence or
resist arrest
82 71 86 62 78 77 - 8%
Possessing firearms with intent to
cause fear of violence
188 223 295 449 465 560 - 32%
Possessing firearms or ammunition
without certificate (Section 1)(2)
647 705 484 411 365 280 - 42%
Shortening a shotgun
24 14 8 2 2 4 - 25%
Possessing shotgun without
certificate
700 609 425 239 336 346 - 67%
Selling firearms to person without a
certificate
18 29 20 16 9 6 - 100%
Possessing or distributing
prohibited weapons or ammunition
1,002 1,053 1,303 1,038 891 899 - 16%
Carrying loaded firearm in public place
151 174 180 133 114 117 - 44%
Possession of firearms by persons
previously convicted of crime
152 151 157 143 138 116 - 4%
Other indictable offence
34 43 37 40 25 34 - 44%
Sorry about the table, but the numbers are actual figures for each year 1996 - 2001, the last number is the percentage of people who recieved a police caution.
A police caution is basically a warning from the police, which remains on file for a few years. It's used in less serious cases.
Bear in mind that a criminal, say a drug dealer or robber, will be charged with one of the more serious offenses in that table. A retired soldier with an old gun in the attic will recieve a caution under one of the lesser offences (Possessing or distributing
prohibited weapons or ammunition).
That probably equals under 1,000 genuine criminals convicted of possesion of a firearm in a year.
Secondly, the number of policemen shot and killed a year.
In America, the figure is around 50 per year (70 last year, excluding 9/11). In england and Wales, which has about one sixth the population, the figure is usually 0 per year.
In fact, the last time a policeman was shot dead in England and Wales was 1995. In 8 years, the figure is 1 death. Adjusting for population, that should give America 6 deaths in the last 8 years.
Instead, the figure is around 400.
Home invasion robberies haven't increased?
Burgularies have been going down for a number of years.
The "ban" on hanguns in the UK had no effect on crime, except to make another Dunblane style attack less likely. Handguns were rare enough anyway, the idea that banning them could cause crime to rise is just bizarre. No burgular/robber in the UK used to be worried about encountering someone with a handgun anyway.
