UK: Gun Control Working?

A recent argument already had me thinking about it, but now there is an excellent article unraveling the UK:US comparison on gun control at The Truth About Gun Control.

The idea that gun control can be thwarted by criminals importing guns from another part of the country is obviously bunk. Look at the UK, which passed a comprehensive ban on handguns in 1997. There are no areas of the UK where handguns are available; it is a national ban, the same type that the architects of DC's high crime rate (the gun banners) want to bring to the whole US. And even with that in mind, the UK's murder rate is soaring, with some UK cities being considerably more dangerous than many US cities where guns are legal.

If gun control was going to work anywhere, it would be in the UK. It's a small island country, with relatively little coastline to protect, and the only international border is a short one between Northern Ireland and Ireland. But even under these ideal circumstances, the UK is suffering a terrible rise in gun crimes (including gun murders), while ours in the US falls (not coincidentally, following the legalization of carrying concealed guns in the majority of US states).

The article also cites a story in the Guardian with this alarming statistic:

Despite recent slight falls in the levels of gun crime, inner south Manchester remains one of the most dangerous parts of the country. In 2002 the firearms murder rate for England and Wales was 0.09 per 100,000 head of population, compared with 5.4 per 100,000 for the US.

In Greater Manchester the rate was to 10 per 100,000, while in Longsight, Moss Side and Hulme it was 140 per 100,000.

Despite what liberals and gun-banners may say about the "common sense" benefits of gun control, there is little evidence that it has ever worked to curtail the real threat - the guns in the hands of criminals.

No thanks. If I am allowed to own a gun, I don't have to rely on the benevolence of criminals to refrain from predetermining my fate at the receiving end of a bullet.