No no no and NO again.

More death and killing? becoming like america? bollocks to that!

Just change the focus for the police from tackling small timers, to getting the converters of replicas and the Irish and East Europeans who bring the guns in in the first place. Massive penalties for them too.

Agree with DM...plus you don't want the scenario with children playing and/or getting hold of the weapon...shooting up schools...shooting a brother or sister...you see these things happening...trying to get rid off guns...don't wanna be giving people licenses to carry them...bad move IMO

then instead of being robbed Im dead... yay!

All more guns do is make punks feel big

Hasn't worked well in practice though has it my man?

All those nations over the globe where the average citizen arms himself have ridicolous murder rates. People here in UK kick up stick and get in a hissy fit over things that wouldn't even make the local news in some places.

We shouldn't be scared into going down that dangerous and murderous route. Keep the ban on guns and crack down on those vultures who traffic them amongst us.

No.

The negatives out-weigh the positives.

101st

It is part of your culture, your heritage, your consitution. It is none of those things to me. To me it is a peice of cold steal smuggled in by other white people, converted by white people and used by us on ourselves. Do I want more? hell no!

Britain is not the same as USA and over here though people kick up stink about guns hardly anybody has one.

I don't have nor want one and I have the pleasure of walking about knowing the likelyhood of anybody else having one is low. I don't walk in fear of any old idiot shooting me for whatever.

You bring up examples of good citizens like yourself who keep these instruments of death and never use them but that is meaningless to me. YOU may feel the need in a nation where everyone has guns that you need one. Im in a nation where hardly anyone does and Im glad I dont feel that need!

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Britain's rate of assault, robbery, and burglary now exceed those in the United States. Murder and rape are edging up very near the American rates, too.

BBC News reported "a dramatic rise in violent crime from 1998 to the present." Relying on statistics from the British Office of Home Affairs, crime in England and Wales this year is at epidemic levels, 60% higher, per capita, than in the U.S.


Gun Law
A ban on all private ownership of handguns became law in November, 1997. Handgun offenses have risen each year since then. Overall, violent crime has spiked since that act of Parliament.

A word of caution. It would be simplistic and dangerous to place all of the blame for this crime wave on the 1997 handgun ban.

But it certainly has not "ended violent crime" as its supporters predicted. Illegal guns continue to flood the country. Young hoodlums and career criminals have no problem obtaining firepower for their misdeeds.

New Study Results
A study released this month (July, 2001) confirms the folly of Britain's 1997 ban on guns.

Researchers at Kings College in London found:

"The use of handguns in crime rose by 40% in the two years after the weapons were banned."

Director of the project, David Bredin, told BBC News:

"It's crystal clear from the research that the existing gun laws do not lead to crime reduction and a safer place. Policymakers have targeted the legitimate sporting and farming communities with ever-tighter laws, but the research clearly demonstrates that it is illegal guns which are the real threat to public safety."

Mr. Bredin said the rise in crime was largely due to successful smuggling of illegal guns into the country.


Prohibition
The study concluded that Britain's experiment with gun prohibition has followed the same path as other government attempts at prohibition. Ever since guns were banned, every criminal has seen the merit of having one. The ban has, in effect, given them a distinct advantage in firepower.

The Manchester Guardian newspaper reported on January 14 that their city is now labeled Gunchester. Police were quoted as saying that "guns had become almost a fashion accessory" among young criminals on the street. Some gangs are armed with fully automatic weapons. The British police -- generally unarmed -- say they can't risk confronting teenagers brandishing machine guns.


Self Defense
This gun ban exacerbates the new attitude in Britain about self-defense. Parliament repealed the long-standing British Common Law right justifying the use of deadly force to defend oneself and one's property against a home invasion. Now, a homeowner repelling a burglar is himself the aggressor. If he has a gun and uses it for protection, he is liable for assault -- and even murder -- charges himself. (See Friday's Commentary for the example of farmer Tony Martin who now languishes in a British jail for self defense against burglars.)


In contrast, the U.S. has among the world's lowest "hot" burglary rates -- defined as burglaries committed while people are in the building -- at 13%. Compare that rate with gun-free Great Britain's rate, which is now up to 59%.

It's logical. An American study showed that the #1 explanation from would-be burglars not to enter an occupied building was:

"I might get shot."

Criminals may be strolling down the road to Hell, but they're not crazy enough to hurry the trip.


Sacrificing Rights
British social policy analyst, Michael S. Brown, O.D., sums up his government's gun-ban implications for future generations of Britons:

"It is no coincidence that crime typically goes up after a government enacts new gun restrictions. Several American researchers and criminologists have explored this effect. Whenever people give up their rights to self defense in return for a promise of government protection, the results have been negative. No amount of social engineering will change this basic consequence of human nature. Unfortunately, the downward progression of gun control only goes one way. British subjects will never regain the basic human right to armed self defense."

American policymakers can learn a lot from the mistakes of their British cousins.