At least the comments get me something to do. A Colon, California URL asks why I never mention the successful gun laws of Great Britain.
Call it the UK, since Eire is an independent entity, Ulster is under UK control, and Scotland threatens to become independant every time the polls open. But call it the UK and you will find I have discussed the results of John Major’s reaction to the Dunblane School Massacre many times.
England, now the UK keeps crime statistics in a unique way, in crimes per 1,000 population instead of the world standard crimes per 100,000 population. Further, they do not report crime committed against those 16 and under, or 65 and older – and murder is counted after someone is convicted and has exhausted their appeals.
While the rest of the world counts all reported crimes where the age of the victim or perpetrator is 12 or greater, and it is murder as soon as a determination of the cause of death has been made.
When PM John Major footed the gun ban proposal, within a few hours of the Dunblane Massacre became known, England had a reported violent crime rate of 3.4 per 1,000, the equivalent of a rate of 450 per 100,000 population. When the courts approved Majors plan to confiscate all guns except shotguns in the hands of “agriculturists practicing large animal husbandry.” Farmers who raise hogs, horses, and cattle.
The chart below shows what happened to the UK violent crime rate under Major’s gun ban, to European countries under the EU parliament demanded tightening of gun laws, and the result of loosening gun laws in the US.
When the courts gave approval the UK violent crime rate was given as 4.5, and calculated to be 4.47 using the limited age of victims, or 5.6 for all UK residents over 12. So a direct comparison with US and UK numbers on the US system wooed be 590 UK vs 556.4 for the US
By 200x, the UK’s official rate was 19, or 1900 violent crimes per 100,000 the way the rest of the world does it. And the US violent crime rate had declined to 473.6/
By 2012, the UK violent crime rate had risen to 26, the equivalent of 2,600 violent crimes in the restricted age group between 16 and 64, while the US had only 473.6 in the wider 12 and up age slot.
By 2012, the UK’s violent crime rate was 2800 the way the US reports crimes, while the US violent crime rate was down to 379.1. per 100,000 population . But!
By 2008 Members of Parliament began blowing the whistle on the police, saying the police were “Fiddling the Numbers” to get a result more satisfactory to Her Majesty’s Government.
The gun hating guardian has a n overview of the problem with UK crime statistics, at this link. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/12/police-officers-fiddling-crime-statistics-england-wales-figures
Breaking our rule of only posting teasers, let me briefly quote the Guardian item linked above. Quote:
A significant number of police officers and government officials “despise” their role in the widespread practice of massaging official crime figures, according to a leading criminologist.
Marian FitzGerald, a visiting professor of criminology at the University of Kent’s crime and justice centre, said many ethically minded senior officers were “scandalised” and detested their part in what they consider to be the manipulation of police statistics
So just how high has gun control sent the UK’s violent crime rate?
While definite information is hard to come by, it appears the current UK violent crime rate, per 100,000 but with the age restrictions is between 4,000 and 5,000 per 100,000 population. Up from 450 and climbing.
While relaxing restrictive gun laws has brought the US violent crime rate down to 379.4.
Obviously, there is a whole lot of fiddling going on in the UK, but not on a violin.
Stranger