Say Anything Blog

What a crock.

Britain 2006
Homicides 767
Gun Murders 57

USA 2006
Homicides 14,990
Firearms Homicides 10,177

Britain

FBI

Two words = Brain Washed.  For years the Brits have been sold by their governments on the ideal of gun control creating a gentler more peaceful society.

You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

Citations please, and per-capita rates.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

And I’m shocked they let their government take their guns AWAY!

WOOF, why don’t you move there?

Soon as I pick up a smaller plane so I can use the Saint Barts airport and close on the beach house.

What a crock, indeed! (WOOF’s attempt to use statistics in a meaningful way!)
According to wikipedia, the US has about 244 million more people than Great Britain.
The difference in the homicide rates per capita, (assuming WOOF was able to copy them correctly) is less than four tenths of one percent. The fact that the Brits may be “shocked” that America, considered the wild, wooly West has a homicide rate that close to their own, with all of the repressive gun laws they have in England, I think they have a perfect right to be shocked and surprised!

For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.

Frederick W. Kagan

Can we see those numbers broken down by “Committed by law-abiding gun owners” and “Committed by prohibited persons”?

Exclude those gun crimes centered around the crack trade. Those people are unaffected by gun laws.

How about presenting them as a percentage of the number of lawfully owned firearms.

199,989,823 guns used in ZERO HOMICIDES.

Talk to me about gun control when that ratio reverses itself.

The UK bans guns, violent crime rate goes up. In the US more and more states are loosening CCW laws, crime rates are either going down or staying the same. All the reported upticks in crime are happening in large cities and are centered around drug-dealing gangs.

Also (I’ll get you the link when I find it), when crime rates go up, they go up more in those places with strict gun control. When overall crime rates drop, they drop more in those places that respect the 2nd amendment rights of the people therein.

NO state has seen their crime rate go up as a result of allowing CCW for law-abiding folks. There has NEVER been an OK CORRAL scenario the antis always predict.

Arming responsible people does not cause crime.

Let the people choose whether they want to carry a gun. After all, the Left loves CHOICE.

Why do we have to keep having this discussion? Americans got their guns and are not giving them up. We believe in the right to defend our lives or those of family or friends. What I find rehensible is that Brits threw away their right to self preservation. The whole Country might as well wear man dresses and Burkas.

300 million Americans
14K murders
Firearms Homicides 10,177

60 million Brits
767 murders
Gun Murders 57

Do the math again.

PS. note the words in my first
post in COLOR
indicate links.

Usually I’m not much of a fan of people’s opinion.  In the arena of personal well being however, we should take people’s feelings into account.  If the Brits think it’s safe here, I say that’s a good thing.  Too bad this only gets a teeny tiny article in a teeny tiny paper rather than the splash we’d see if the news were critical of the US.

I have known people from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe who arrived in America fully expecting to be robbed, raped and murdered within the first week. And they are absolutely shocked at how polite, helpful and courteous Americans are. Is there violent crime in America? Bet your ass! Is it as widespread and prevalent as movies, TV and news media portray it? Not even close.

sim, you nail it. Outside of America the majority of people expect the government, in one form or another, to provide for their safety and protection. And it fails, abysmally. In America people are raised, for the most part, to provide for themselves. The political left has been trying to change that since the early 1900s. And have been moderately successful in certain segments of our population. The problem is people are not blind. They see that police can not protect them, and that it is not, in fact, their job to protect people from each other. It is to enforce laws. Two entirely different objectives.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

I don’t have stats but I do have a personal experience to reflect on. I was on vacation in the UK and my in-law, a Brit, invited us to a soccer game. After the game there was a small riot between the two Brit teams fans. I was warned to get inside a doorway of a shop and keep my arms up to protect my face as the “hooligans” went by. Apparently the accepted practice is to slash people in the face with a small 3 inch blade as you pass.

It’s a damn good thing they don’t have guns.

Woof, either you’re cherry picking or you’re being lazy.  You mention only homicides - as if that were the only threat worth looking at.  The news article you link says, referring to the UK:

Alarmingly, however, this has been accompanied by a 46% rise in the use of firearms in residential robberies to 645 cases in the last year.

Also, the Home Office report cited in the article states:

The risk of being a victim of violent crime in the 2006/07 BCS was 3.6 per cent.

The risk in the U.S., according to the FBI source you cited, was .47 per cent. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/offenses/violent_crime/index.html

Where would you rather live?

My wife and I trael frequently to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego. We’ve both been to New York. We’ve travelled together to England and Italy. We’ve been to multiple national parks, and gove to Hawaii several times. We’ve been to England and Italy.

We were in London approximately 10 hours when a young “immigrant” tried to grab her purse from her. When I moved towards him he let go and darted into traffic like a gazelle. I can’t say I blame him since I outweighed him by about 100 lbs.

To date...this is the only time a crime has been attempted on us during travel.

I have friends from Denmark and Italy, and both of them have been assaulted in their home countries. Another friend who’s sister-in-law was kidnapped by in the late 70s (her parents paid for ransom). I know women who have moved here from Scandanavian countries who have remarked that they no longer feel safe in parts of Copenhagen and Oslow.

The fact is our crime rate has been gettin better, and theirs is getting worse.

There’s a lot of gun violence, but most of it is criminal-on-criminal. In London, Stockholm, Oslo, Paris, Copenhagen crime is getting worse....and most of it is criminal-on-noncriminal.

This was the first time I

This is the only

Wing Chun - You have hit the nail on it’s head.  Gang violence, Black-on-Black crime, gang warfare which goes back to the 1920s and earlier is criminal and should be prosecuted.  What you have brought out is crime by criminals on law abiding citizens.  In Britain, the people there are subjects.  In the USA, we are still free men.  We claim the right, by the second amendment to defend ourselves with guns if necessary.

Communism is evil

Chief:

As I think back to that day in January 2002, when the guy tried to grab my wife’s purse, what still amazes me was the sheer audacity of it.

I’m a pretty intimidating guy to look at. I’m 6’2” and I was a about 280 lbs at the time. And since I’ve spent about 20,000 hours in the gym, I’m not a tubby at 280, but rather look like an offensive lineman (I’ve also trained in martial arts since the 80s but that’s not something you know by looking at someone). My wife is not somone who would be normally picked as an easy mark. She’s 6 ft tall and has competed in triathlons.

As a teacher, I’ve spent more than a bit of time working in barrios, and meth country. Never once did someone approach me with criminal intent.

But on our first day in London, within a 1/2 km of Victoria Station, some young punk would try to grab the purse of a 6 ft tall woman walking with a 280 lb gym gorilla.

That just shows me that criminals in London operate completely without fear.

So I can easily believe the premise of the BBC article.

Wing Chun Geologist,

I can usually spot dan level practitioners on the street and in social situations…

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

The UK bans guns, violent crime rate goes up. In the US more and more states are loosening CCW laws, crime rates are either going down or staying the same. All the reported upticks in crime are happening in large cities and are centered around drug-dealing gangs.

And the other good thing is when citizens defend themselves with guns, there is chance that the perpetrator will be wasted thus reducing the potential criminal population.

You don’t have to be a moron to be a liberal Democrat but it sure helps.

From Norway:

99 out of 100 thieves go free
A new report by the justice minister, Knut Storberget, shows that 99.2 percent of all serious robberies on the streets of Oslo are never solved.