Gun Bans: Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Author's Note:  As my research has expanded, I will soon split this post into two sections.  The next post, focusing primarily on knife crime, will be "The Battle Of Epping Forest" and, if you want to get into the mood:  music & lyrics.  XOXO, So Ro



M2RB:  Leon Russell

It's one of those rules
That the greatest fools
Obey!

By Sophie Ro

After the 1997 shooting of 16 kids in Dunblane, Scotland, the United Kingdom passed one of the strictest gun-control laws in the world, banning its citizens from owning almost all types of handguns. In the minds of the "Do Somethings!" and "Absolute Shalls," Britain seemed to get safer by the minute, as 162,000 newly-illegal firearms were forked over to British officials by law-abiding citizens.  But, this didn't decrease the amount of gun-related crime in the UK and it certainly did NOTHING but cause overall crime to absolutely skyrocket.

The gun ban did not lower the overall murder rate, per se.  In 1996, there were 584 murders in the UK.  The following year, there were 650.  Five years later, there were 1,048 homicides.  In the UK, the murder rate has now dropped to its lowest rate in 29 years, but is it because of the gun ban?  Some might claim so, but then let them explain why the murder rate in the United States has dropped to the lowest rate since Charles Whitman, who, unbeknownst to anyone, had a malignant brain tumour that would have killed him before the year was out, went to The Tower at the University of Texas, a "gun-free zone," in 1966 and killed 13 people -- the first target was actually an 8-month old unborn foetus, who was killed although not counted (that should make pro-aborts happy) -- and wounded 32 others with an arsenal that included a M-1 carbine, a Remington 700 6mm bolt-action hunting rifle, a .35 calibre pump rifle, a .30 calibre carbine, a 9mm Luger pistol, a 12 gauge semi-automatic sawed-off shotgun,  a Galesi-Brescia .25-calibre pistol, a Smith & Wesson M19, a .357 Magnum revolver, and over 700 rounds of ammunition -- arsenals and semi-automatics are not some new phenomenon, obviously.

In 2006, the murder rate in the US 5.7 per 100,000 and was only 1.25 per 100,000 in the UK.   Yes, the United States had -- and does have -- a high murder rate, but that doesn't tell the whole story on whether it has a more violent society than the UK or, at least, it shouldn't.  In that same year, there were 92,455 reported rapes in the US, which had a population of 299.4 million, or 30.88 per 100,000 residents.  In contrast, there were 85,000 reported in the UK, which had a population of 60.409 million.  As a result, the rape rate in the UK was 140.71.  
 

  
Murder and rape are two violent crimes that are looked at in tandem as two leading indicators of a society's penchant for and tolerance of violence.  Before we allow Piers Morgan to condemn the US because of the murder rate, he must be made to explain the rape rate in the UK, as well as the massive increase in gun crime after the ban and the skyrocketing jump in the overall crime rate.

Between 1998 and 2009, gun crime in the UK increased 89%.  The UK has a higher overall violent crime rate than the United States and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.   In the 12 years following the gun ban, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77% to 1.158 million - or more than two every minute.
  
By contrast, the US had a violence rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents and South Africa's rate was 1,677.

Country:  # of violence crimes...rate/100,000 residents

1. UK: 1,158,957...2,034

2. Austria: 133,546...1,677

3. South Africa:  732,121...1,609

4.  Sweden:  108,004...1,123

5.  Belgium:  107,885...1,006

6.  Canada:  306,559...935

7.  Finland:  41,664...738

8.  Netherlands: 111,888...676

9.  Luxembourg:  3,233...565

10.  France:  324,765...504

The US was:  1,318,398...466 (now 1,246,248... 403.6 in 2010)

 

 

CULTURE OF VIOLENCE:

GUN CRIME GOES UP BY 89% IN  A DECADE

  

"Gun crime has almost doubled since Labour came to power as a culture of extreme gang violence has taken hold.

The latest Government figures show that the total number of firearm offences in England and Wales has increased from 5,209 in 1998/99 to 9,865 last year – a rise of 89 per cent.

In some parts of the country, the number of offences has increased more than five-fold.

In eighteen police areas, gun crime at least doubled. 

The statistic will fuel fears that the police are struggling to contain gang-related violence, in which the carrying of a firearm has become increasingly common place.

Last week, police in London revealed they had begun carrying out armed patrols on some streets. 

The move means officers armed with sub-machine guns are engaged in routine policing for the first time."

  

 28 GUN CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE UK EVERY DAY

The spiralling problem with gun culture was highlighted by figures that show 28 firearms crimes are committed in England and Wales every day. 

Home Office figures showed gun crimes rose by four per cent last year, the largest increase for three years. 

There were 10,182 firearms offences in the year to the end of September compared with 9,755 in the previous 12 months – an increase of more than 400 crimes, or more than eight every week. 

The rise is the biggest percentage increase since September 2004, when figures showed a five per cent increase in gun crimes.

While gun-related deaths were down, from 55 to 49, the number of slight injuries, threats and non-injury incidents linked to guns increased. 

Victims’ groups were appalled by the figures in the quarterly crime statistics released by the Home Office.

Norman Brennan, a policeman who is spokesman for the Victims of Crime Trust, said Government initiatives to tackle gun crime seemed to make no difference. 

“Children as young as 11 or 12 are carrying guns,” he said. “The sad reality is that it is becoming so routinely reported by the press that a child has been shot that the shock value has been eliminated.” 

Police chiefs said they were “concerned” about the rise. Bob Jones, the chairman of the Association of Police Authorities, said: “This is an area police authorities will want to monitor carefully.”

David Davis, the Conservatives’ shadow home secretary, said: “These latest official figures show that Labour is failing to combat both violent crime and its causes.” 

Mr Davis said the gun figures were linked to a steep rise in drug offences – up 21 per cent in the third quarter of last year. The number of drug crimes was 55,700, against 9,500 in the same period in 2006."

The above two articles show what happened to gun crime and the overall crime rate - both violent and property - after the gun ban went into effect in the UK following the massacre in Dunblane, Scotland.  This essay will attempt to show how many of us have not become safer since and are now at the mercy of criminals and a government that believes we do not have a right to self-defence.  In fact, one might argue that the government believes your belief that you have a right to defend yourself is more dangerous than the criminals, who have "issues." 

By 2010, the number of recorded sexual offences rose by 8% including a 15% jump in the number of rapes against women, which rose from 12,100 to 14,000, the latest Home Office figures showed.  Meanwhile, in the ultra-violent, trigger-happy United States, the number of recorded sexual offences for the same year DECREASED BY 5% (since the US includes deaths resulting from self-defence in its homicide rate, I hope that more than a few of the bastards making the 2010 tally were almost rapists, who got sent on their merry way to collect their 72 virgin goats, 69 virtual Victoria's Secret models, or whatever by one less rape victim. 

According to the figures released by the FBI, the estimated number of violent crimes in the United States in 2010 declined for the fourth consecutive year. Property crimes also decreased, marking this the eighth straight year that the collective estimates for these offences declined.  According to the 2010 edition of the FBI’s annual report Crime in the United States, the statistics show that the estimated volumes of violent and property crimes declined 6.0% and 2.7%, respectively, when compared with the 2009 estimates. The violent crime rate for the year was 403.6 offences per 100,000 inhabitants (a 6.5% decrease from the 2009 rate), and the property crime rate was 2,941.9 offences per 100,000 persons (a 3.3% decrease from the 2009 figure). 

In 2010, in the United States the total number of crimes reported was 10,329,135.  1,246,248 of those were violent crimes and 9,082,887 were property crimes.  The US population in 2010 was 308,745,538; thus, the per capita rates for both types of crimes were:  0.404% and 2.94%. 

In 2010, in the United Kingdom, the total number of crimes reported was 9.718 million.  3.808 million of those were violent crimes and 5.91 million were property crimes.  The UK population in 2010 was 62,262,000; thus, the per capita rates for both types of crimes were:  6.12% and 9.49%.

I agree and that's why they should be able to defend themselves without the threat of a life sentence in prison, which is what happened to farmer, Tony Martin, when he shot one of two home invaders to death defending himself and his home.  While self-defence was rejected by on appeal, the conviction was reduced later to manslaughter on the basis of psychological testimony that Mr Martin suffered from a "borderline personality disorder" that manifested itself in a "phobia about people breaking into his home."  His tariff was reduced from life to 5 years and he was released after serving 3 due to his good behaviour in prison. 

There were 51 gun deaths in the UK in 2011 a decrease of 18%, but the year also marked a jump in the number of legally-held guns by 1.8 million so, obviously, more guns do not, necessarily, result in more gun deaths. 

For some reason, gun control advocates like Piers Morgan, the "Do Somethings!" and the "Absolute Shalls" in the United States think that the fact that the UK has a lower rate of gun deaths is something to celebrate in and of itself.  But, is it really?  My questions to them are: 

Does it really matter the manner of death is or what tool is used to kill? 

If you are about to be raped, wouldn't you rather kill the MoFo before he assaults you or, in the very least, scare him away? 

Would you rather have the deaths, including those from self-defence, from guns rate increase or the violence rate skyrocket? 

In other words, do you want to be the statistic or would you rather it be your would-be perpetrator? 

Are not hammers, tyre irons, waffle irons, golf clubs, baseball bats and fists all possible "assault weapons"?  What would you rather have in the middle of the night to defend your family against two home invaders: a gun or a Louisville Slugger, which - to the surprise of few, who know how the British governing class thinks - became the new "you don't need that!" item during the August 2011 riots?

 During the riots, sales of aluminum truncheons and baseball bats skyrocketed, with some items achieving sales 50,000% above normal.  Amazon.co.uk was doing unbelievable sales on these types of items because people wanted to be able to defend themselves, which became increasingly necessary as the Metropolitan police were told to stand down.

It's that kind of insensitive, living-in-the-bubble asininity that roils the blood of so many.  People were not buying truncheons for sport so that they could go out and take the heads off of some yobs.  Most were inside their homes cowering or were scurrying from home to work or market with head and eyes facing downward, if they had to venture outside.  There were business owners, too, that tried to protect their life's work.   Despite the taunts of the feral children and the occasional Trustafarian tag-along looking for a good time, these business owners were not "fatcats" and "the evil rich."  Most were working class immigrants, who were just trying to save their little plot of prosperity and, for that, the dolers believed they deserved to be destroyed and idiots like Stella Creasy thought that they should be defenceless. " Just give way, my good man.  The dole is always here.  No need for self-sufficiency!  How crass anyway!"
 

 

After the gun ban went into effect, the increase in knife crimes and stabbings soared galatically. In 1977, there were 135 homicides using a sharp instrument including knives and broken bottles, 33% of all homicides. In 2006/07, there were 271 homicides using a sharp instrument, the highest number since records began, accounting for 38% of all homicides. In 2008/09 40% of homicides used a sharp instrument, the highest proportion since records began.   The number of fatal stabbings in England and Wales rose to the highest total for at least 30 years.  But statisticians added that this was a similar level to that seen in four out of the last six years and pointed out that fatal shootings had fallen from 59 to 53 over the same period. The supplementary volume of Home Office crime figures, which cover homicides, gun crime and intimate violence also shows that the overall murder rate in England and Wales rose by 2%.  They also show that "intimate violence" - which covers partner abuse, family abuse and sexual assault - has been experienced by 30% of women and 20% of men since the age of 16.

The British Crime Survey says that these figures represent an estimated 4.8 million females who have been victims of domestic abuse since the age of 16 and 3.2 million male victims. The figures show that the most common murder weapon in England and Wales remains the knife or other sharp instrument, with 35% of the 773 murders the result of a fatal stabbing. 

In 1997, the year Labour came to power and the gun ban passed, there were 4,489 prosecutions in England for knife crimes.  By 2006, that figure had jumped to 7,699.

There was a 48% increase in serious knife-related hospital admissions between 1997/98 and 2006/7 and between 2003 and 2007 knife-wound hospital admissions for under-16s increased by 62.7%.  This led the Home Affairs Select Committee in its report on knife crime to speculate that the increase in serious knife wounds "may indicate that knives are being used to inflict more serious wounds."  In other news, water is wet.  Taking away guns does not take away the desire to harm.  People just find another way of inflicting the damage.  I know.  It is a novel theory. 

 

In 2008, the Home Office released the statistics for knife crimes for the 12 months ending in March, 2008.  To say that the figures were shocking would be an understatement.  The annual crime statistics showed that there were 22,151 crimes committed involving knives in ENGLAND and WALES only. This figure did not include the estimated 250 fatal stabbings, which were recorded separately.  The data further showed that 231 were related to attempted murders; 5,248 were cases of wounding with intent; 2,785 were related to grievous bodily harm; 2,359 were cases of robbery to business premises and 11,528 were related to the robbery of personal property.

There has been a 120% rise in the number of children admitted to London hospitals suffering knife injuries

The number of knife homicides rose by 26.9% between 2005/06 and 2006/07. There were 270 knife homicides in 2007/08: the highest total since the Homicide Index was introduced in 1977. 

The real epidemic of knife and stabbings crime is, especially, felt amongst the under-16s in London and the, similar to gang violence in the US, it is one of the most underreported crimes in all of the United Kingdom, which is apparent when one compares the surgery or A&E visits with the number of police reports filed.  The case is the same whether in England/Wales or Scotland (more than 70% of stabbing wounds or knife attacks treated in hospital go unreported and 50% of all knives found in Scotland are or Northern Ireland, the latter two keep separate records.  Kniving has been seen on some of the islands, but not nearly at the level seen in the Home Counties and Glasgow.

 

 Justine Greening MP said NHS figures show there had been 34 emergency hospital admissions of children aged under 16 with stab wounds in 2003/04.  This figure rose to 75 admissions in 2007/08.  Later records also show more teenagers aged between 16 and 18 are suffering knife wounds in the capital, with hospital admissions up from 129 in 2003/04 to 238 in 2007/08 - an 84% rise.   The increases in London are far higher than the national average, which shows an 80% rise in under-16 victims and a 41% increase in 16- to 18-year-old victims.

The MP told BBC London: "We all know of the tragic cases where people actually die from their wounds, but for every one of those there are up to 14 cases where teenagers are going to hospital for treatment but perhaps not going it to police. 

The UK outlawed the switchblade and gravity knife in 1959.

In 1988, possession of a pocket knife with a blade larger than 3 inches in public became illegal.

In 1996, it became illegal to sell a razor blade to anyone under the age of 16.

In 2007, you needed a licence to be able to sell “non-domestic knives.”

In 2008, a group of doctors called for a total ban on all long, pointed kitchen knives demanding that 17th century French laws decreeing that the tips of kitchen, table and street knives be ground smooth be adopted for both public eateries and in the home.

 

 Wounds from kitchen knives can be devastating, but must we be protected from every danger?  And, don't even bring up plastic knives.  Those can get you arrested, too.  Eventually, the NannyStaters will put the Luddites to shame and we will be eating with our hands like cavemen.

Knife attacks are costing the NHS an astonishing £500 million per year, including A&E treatment, operating arena, specialists, hospitalisations, surgery visitations, aftercare, physical therapy, psychological treatment, and assorted family support care, should same become necessary. 

The bill for treating just one stabbing victim can soar to £250,000 while only in hospital.  Coupled with aftercare at a family surgery, therapy, and A&E, a Department of Health spokesman has put the total of treatment for a non-life threatening stabbing injury at approximately £1 million.  £1 million would fund 2,146 new hospital beds for a year or pay for 12,272 nurses or 21,600 hip replacements.

Last year, an official report found surgery was being deliberately delayed so patients would go private or die before they reached the top of waiting lists such was the dire financial condition of the NHS and the overall Treasury.  While claiming it was in jest, Liam Byrne, the former Treasury Secretary under the previous Labour government, left a note on the desk for incoming minister, The Right Honourable David Laws, which said:  “Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.” 

Surely, you jest, Mr Byrne.  Gallows’ humour was more like it…and, as we know, for those about to die, we salute you...r honesty. 

While budget cuts have led to programmes that are quite, literally, starving to death the elderly, infirm, those grievously debilitated by dementia, Alzheimer’s, or ALS and even those with curable skin conditions and broken legs, the epidemic of knifing crimes have begun to consume a greater allotment of the NHS budget.  Obviously, not all stabbing victims have some culpability, but many do since a great deal of the knifings occur by and between gang members or over drugs. 

Make no mistake, I am not arguing that they should be left to die, but I do wish to bring a modicum of a cost-benefit analysis to this discussion.   Yes, it is déclassé, a tad uncouth, and more than a wee bit uncomfortable to discuss pounds and pence when debating the larger debate of life and debate.  But, as I tell my Progressive American friends, who have dreams of sugar-plum fairies and Mary Poppins-type nannies/nurses dancing and flying à la Danny Boyle in their “My Progressive Little Ponyland,” which is of course a “gun-free zone,” when the government runs healthcare , the bottom line IS the bottom line.  “Free” and “unlimited” healthcare may grow on trees in Utopia, but money doesn’t grow on trees in Realville. 

 

Money is not the only issue.  In June 2012, there were 2,637,799 patients on NHS waiting lists for periods exceeding 6 months.  Many on the list were awaiting treatment for cancer, cardiac conditions, pulmonary problems, tumours, spinal injuries or deformities, as well as more mundane, but still painful conditions like degenerative arthritis, knee/hip replacements, ovarian cysts/endometriosis, prostate problems, etc.  It is not surprising, then, that the UK has some of the worst cancer and cardiac survival rates in the developed world.  So bad have been the waiting list problems that German and French private hospitals have, periodically, taken tens of thousands of patients for treatment.  Because of the exigent nature of stab wounds, these patients take precedence over all of those on waiting lists.

Even as police estimate that 50%-70% of stabbings go unreported, departments recorded 33,566 knife offences in England and Wales in 12 months with 5,000 requiring admission to long-term hospitalisations.  One hospital, the Royal London, has seen the number of serious stabbing cases presenting in the A&E DOUBLE in five years.  Much of the knife crime the hospital sees involves young men as both attackers and victims.  Of the 312 people admitted to the Royal London from A&E with knife wounds in March were aged between 13 and 24. 
Dr Mike Walsh, consulting trauma surgeon at the Royal London hospital, said:  

 

Several years ago, Rudi Hargreaves was a 22 year-old woman two months away from graduating with a degree in psychology from Liverpool University when she began feeling nauseous, constantly full and started to lose weight.  Nevertheless, she preserved.  After graduation, she returned to Hull, East Yorks, and began living her dream by working as a teaching assistant.  A few short weeks later, her dream became a nightmare when she was forced to leave her job as her weight and energy levels began to plummet.

 After a consultation with her GP at the local surgery, she was sent to a specialist, who diagnosed this young woman with gastroparesis – paralysis of the stomach – which prevented the digestion of food at a normal rate.  Her once healthy weight of 10st (140#) had shrunk to a skeletal 5st 10lb (80#).

 This young woman, with so much promise, was not without hope.  Gastroparesis has been successfully treated with gastric pacemakers for over a decade.  The condition can be treated with a £14,000 ($22,613) operation to fit a gastric pacemaker.  Unfortunately, hope is as vacuous a word in the NHS as it is in an Obama campaign.

 HELP ME, I'M STARVING TO DEATH!” – Rudi Hargreaves

“Sorry.  ‘Experimental.’  'Insufficient supporting information.'  On the bright side, if you ever need a gastric band for weight loss or £1,000,000 in treatment due to a stabbing wound that you suffer in a gang fight, you know where to find us!”

And, if that doesn’t turn your blood cold, know this: In 2006, Carol Davis, a diabetic, was the first person to have a gastric pacemaker fitted.  Another diabetic, Margaret Burns, from Liverpool, received her gastric pacemaker less than 2 years later.  So, it wasn’t exactly “experimental” and, at least, 50 gastric pacemakers had been implanted – even for gastroparesis – BEFORE Rudi Hargreaves was stricken.

The last news that I have of Rudi Hargreaves is that people around the world were raising the necessary funds for her to be treated at a private facility (yes, we have them).  I hope that she had her surgery in time and has recovered sufficiently to live the life that she deserves.  For the next gangbanger, who picks up a knife, please consider the life that you destroy may not only be the one into which you plunge your pathetic phallic symbol.  His "free" healthcare or yours - when what goes around comes around arrives - will cost the lives of people like Rudi or dozens, who have been waiting upwards of a year to get treated for cancer or a heart condition.   

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, there were a reported 29,613 knife crimes in the year ending in June 2012 with a 10% increase in knifing robberies alone,  Before you ask, it is illegal to carry knives in the UK.  I know.  Why haven't people obeyed the law?  40% of all the murders of young people in the UK are committed with knives, but they are illegal.  What's up with that?

Now, if you are a "Do Something!" or an "Absolute Shall" that looks at UK knife crime and still thinks it looks good compared to American gun crime, then just wait a few because a "knife crime" doesn't necessarily mean a stabbing.   Under the Prevention of Crime Act of 1953, it became illegal to have an offencive weapon in a public place.  This included ''any article made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person, or intended by the person having it with him for such use by him or by some other person."  The Restriction of Offencive Weapons Act of 1959 banned the carrying, manufacture, sale, purchase, hire or lending of flick-knives and ''gravity knives." The Criminal Justice Act of 1988 contained a list of prohibited martial arts-style weapons and made it an offence to carry an article with a blade or sharp point in a public place. The Offencive Weapons Act of 1996 made it illegal to sell knives to children under the age of 16. The Knives Act of 1997 prohibited the marketing of combat knives.  The Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005 banned the sale of knives to anyone under 18.  So, the govvie pretty much covered all of the sharpies, but the definition of a "knife crime" has been far more elusive because, for example, a sword, axes, and razor sharp "cat skinners" -- all have been used -- aren't knives.

So, as bad as the increase in "knife" crimes was after the gun ban, it was nothing compared to what happened to the "stabbings" rate.  In 2008, both the Government's Offending, Crime and Justice Survey and the bigger British Crime Survey estimated that there were nearly 60,000 stabbings in England and Wales each year or a rate of 98.36 per 100,000 inhabitants.

How bad has the stabbing situation become in the UK AND, more importantly, the Nanny State need to micromanage safety?  The "Do Something!" move is on to require pubs serve beverages in only non-shatterproof glass or plastic.  Considering the fact that official figures show more than 5,500 people are attacked every year in pubs with glasses and bottles in England and Wales, will a ban on china and crockery follow when they become the chosen "weapons of war" by drunken brawlers?

Despite more laws banning more objects and sales to various people, the rate of knifings, knife-related crimes, and stabbings continued to increase.  Paradoxically, the sheeple of Britain demand more cowbell.  Instead of demanding a right to defend themselves, more police on the street, and stiffer prison terms (for example, in 2010 only 19% of knife possession offences led to prison terms and the average tariff was 4.8 months), many continue to demand more laws that criminals aren’t going to obey anyway.   So, now, while it is quite conceivable that a woman can be detained or even arrested for carrying a plastic knife back to the office (don’t laugh - more than a few have been convicted for carrying a plastic knife in public even when they had no illicit intent), she cannot carry a gun to save her life or ward off a potential rapist.

The band Chelsea Grin's first EP depicts an image of a man bearing a Glasgow smile (or "Chelsea grin"). The term refers to the wound that results from slashing a person's face from the edges of the mouth to the ears. The cut, which is usually made with a utility knife or a piece of broken glass, leaves a scar that makes the victim appear to be smiling broadly. The practice is said to have originated in Glasgow, Scotland 

"The appalling scale of Scotland’s blade culture was laid bare by a surgeon , who warned knife crime had reached epidemic levels.

Consultant Dr Jeff Downie, surgeon at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital, told how children as a young as 12 are being permanently disfigured because of gang-related knife crime.

"On average, the staff at the hospital are dealing with one knife victim every six hours. Kids at this age should be worried about pimples but instead have horrible scars across their entire face. They are the lucky ones. Many suffer nerve damage, meaning they can’t move their face properly, while other lose their sight.  It’s depressing when we see children who have to go through the rest of their lives disfigured.”

- Dr Jeff Downie, surgeon at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital 

Dr Downie, based in the hospital’s maxillo-facial surgery unit, said the majority of his patients were boys aged 12 to 19, and some were presenting with sword and machete injuries.  Kids at this age should be worried about pimples but instead have horrible scars across their entire face. 

In April it emerged Scotland’s booze and blades culture was costing the country’s health service £400 million-a-year. The cost of treating knife injuries in Glasgow alone is a staggering £6.5million a year. 

 “We’re seeing at least one so-called ‘Glasgow smile’ a week - that’s where the mouth is slashed right round to the ear.” 

- Dr Jeff Downie, surgeon at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital

It is estimated that there are about 1,400 Scots injured in knife attacks each year, and only a fraction of incidents are reported to the police." 

The United Nation's crime research institute said Scotland - true to course - was the most violent country in the developed world.  For all that are hearing right now about the number of firearms in the United States, Scots were determined to be nearly three-times more likely to be victims of violent assaults than those living in America.  Considering the UK's ranking above, it is probably safe to say that Scots are much more likely to be victims of violent assaults than those living in Austria, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and  France, too.

More than 50% of knives found by the police in Scotland are seized in Glasgow. Stabbings account for half of all murders.   Every week, there is at least one murder by stabbing in Scotland.   Since the police believe that knifings are under-reported 50-70%, the true tally of the carnage - while likely never to be known - was probably more along the lines of 100 to 150....in one 3-day weekend.  While stabbings in Scotland aren't the sole cause of death amongst those in age groups not expected to expire, they do encapsulate the rough-and-tumble lives many a bairn, as precious and innocent as possible in his receiving gown, will grow to face in his likely very short life.   According to the World Health Organisation, a boy born in one deprived part of Glasgow is likely to die 28 years earlier than one born in a village just a few miles away, and will have a life expectancy shorter than that of people living in India or the Philippines. 

During a 2006 bank holiday weekend, police received reports of 50 knifing attacks.   One victim, was Barry Wilson, who with his 3 children, were returning home from an anti-crime day organised by the police.  Mr Wilson had spent part of the afternoon with his killer enjoying a few pints and watching the children.  When Wilson, who had been paying all day, refused one last pint, he got the knife...in front of his children, which is where he died.

The costs in lives, blood and treasure in Scotland alone are staggering.  Scottish Labour asserts that knife crime costs NHS Scotland an estimated £500 million ($805.40 million) a year.  To put that into perspective, NHS Scotland had an operating budget of £11.35 billion ($18.283 billion) in the operating year 2010/11.  It spent £373 million on orthopaedic services.  NHS Scotland spent 25.4% more on stabbing treatments than it did on ALL orthopaedic surgeries, knee/hip replacement, spinal and disk procedures, drug therapies for arthritis, physical therapy, etc.  Furthermore, because of the emergency nature of stab wounds, patients in excruciating pain on waiting lists are pushed further down the queue. 

 Comparing Gun-toting US to Knife-wielding UK

 
Comparing London and New York, cities of very similar population and demographics, the rate of assaults and robberies is over six times as high, and 7 or 10 times nationwide (depending on statistic used).   In 2007, London accounted for more than one-third of all admissions of children 16 and under being admitted to hospital with stab wounds and saw the number of teenagers in need of treatment increase rise by 33%. 

If we want an even more apt comparison relative to guns and crime, we can look at cities in the US where CCW is allowed with those where guns have been banned.   In 2011, Houston -- both the city and the state of Texas have CCW laws -- had the lowest crime rate in 50 years.   According to FBI crimes statistics, the number of murders in Houston went from 269 in 2010 to 198 in 2011 -- a 22% decrease.  By contrast, Chicago, which had a gun ban, had 440 murders in 2010.  Houston's murder rate in 2011 was 3.24 per 100,000 residents while Chicago's was 16.33 per 100,000 residents.  The overall violent crime rate in both cities shows a similar pattern.  Among the nation's 10 largest cities, each with a population of one million or more, only Philadelphia had higher rates of murder and violent crime than Chicago.  It is three times as deadly as New York, although Nanny Doomberg has his own problems given the crime rate is rising in Gotham for the first time in 20 years, and twice as violent as Los Angeles, both of which have strict gun laws although not nearly as draconian as the ones that were in effect in Chicago.  Houston, on the other hand and to the disappointment of gun-grabbers, is one of the safer large cities in America as far as the violent crime, rape and murder rates are concerned.

In 2003 - six years after the gun ban went into effect, data out from the UK showed that gun crime soared by 35 percent. 

The Government's latest crime figures were condemned as "truly terrible" by the Tories today as it emerged that gun crime in England and Wales soared by 35% last year. 

Criminals used handguns in 46% more offences, Home Office statistics revealed.

Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362.

It was the fourth consecutive year to see a rise and there were more than 2,200 more gun crimes last year than the previous peak in 1993.

Figures showed the number of crimes involving handguns had more than doubled since the post-Dunblane massacre ban on the weapons, from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871.

Unadjusted figures showed overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3%, but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures.

Shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin said: "These figures are truly terrible.

"Despite the street crime initiative, robbery is massively up. So are gun-related crimes, domestic burglary, retail burglary, and drug offenses.

"The only word for this is failure: the Government's response of knee-jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives is not working and confused signals on sentences for burglary will not help either.

"The figures will continue to be dreadful until the Government produces a coherent long term strategy to attack crime at its roots and get police visibly back on our streets.

Gun crime would not be cracked until gangs were broken up and the streets "reclaimed for the honest citizen by proper neighborhood policing," he added.

"Gun crime would not be cracked until gangs were broken up and the streets reclaimed for the honest citizen by proper neighborhood policing" or so they thought.   Gun crime increased by 89% between 1998 and 2009.  There are areas of the UK where gun crime is five times higher than it was before the gun ban. Gun crime had doubled, at least, in nearly 20 police areas.   The Metropolitan Police now has replaced some of the famously unarmed "Bobbies" with armed patrols on some streets and, in a historic first, officers armed with "sub-machine guns" have been integrated into neighbourhood policing.

I will say it, again and again, I would rather live in a country where I am free and armed than to reside in a nation where, as Senator Dianne Feinstein argues, guns are banned so that a faerie tale and false promise of security of a "fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe" is "addressed."  As we have seen, the "fundamental right of Britons to feel safe" was not met when gun-grabbers left law-abiding citizens defenceless and subject to the whims and vagaries of those that are unswayed by the law.  The Left tells us -- and, personally, I agree -- that the death penalty is not a deterrent.  Well, neither are gun bans.

 

One more thing, in 2010, the homicide rate in the United States fell to 4.2%.  This rate was either the lowest in four decades, according to the Holder Department of Justice, or the lowest rate since 1909 according to long term statistics, including those from the FBI, the Census, and state depositories.

The year 2011 marked the fifth straight year of a decline in violent crime, which includes murder, rape, robbery and assault, and witnessed a 4% decrease from the previous year, according to the FBI's Annual Uniform Crime Report.  In addition, property crime, covering burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, edged down by just 0.8 percent, the smallest decrease in three years. Nevertheless, that marked the ninth consecutive annual drop in property crimes.

Per FBI records, both violent crime and property crime peaked in the early 1990s.  Since peaking in 1992, violent crime has fallen by 38% while property crime has dropped by 30.6% from its high in 1991.  Furthermore, the number of violent crimes has decreased by 12% since 2006, which was the last year marked with an increase, and property crime has dropped by 14% since 2002, the last year that it increased.

What is quite significant about these numbers, especially in the context of the current conversation about gun and "assault weapons," is that the Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004.   Bill Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, Chuck Schumer, Carolyn McCarthy and Joe Biden would have killed to have a murder rate as low DURING the 10 years of the existence of the AWB as it has been in the 7 years AFTER ITS EXPIRATION. 

So, if the AWB didn't do it, what else could explain the dramatic decrease in the homicide rate?

How about two: 

1.  The demand for crack cocaine has declined.

2.  Criminals might be thinking twice about who they are going to attack considering:

In 1994, there was 1 state with UNRESTRICTED gun carry rights and 20 states with SHALL ISSUE CCW laws, 17 states with MAY ISSUE laws, and 12 states with NO ISSUE laws.

In 2011, there were 4 states with UNRESTRICTED gun carry rights and 37 states with SHALL ISSUE CCW laws, 8 states with MAY ISSUE laws, and 1 state with a NO ISSUE law -- and it (Illinois) just had its ban struck down by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
 

http://www.knifecrimes.org/uk-knife-crime-victims.html

Some recent knife crime stats:

During the year to June 2012 there were approximately 29,613 recorded offences involving knives or other sharp instruments, accounting for 7% of selected offences, a similar proportion to previous years.  The number of knife offences recorded was 9% lower than in the preceding year.

With the exception of homicide the recorded crime statistics had not previously separately identify crimes involving knives.   There were 200 homicides using a sharp instrument in 2011/12, accounting for 39% of all homicides.

According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSES) in 2011/12 a knife was used in 6% of all BCS incidents of violence experienced by adults, similar to the previous year’s proportion.

Since January 2010 the CSEW recently has asked children aged 10 to 15 about their experiences of crime in England and Wales. A knife, screwdriver or stabbing instrument was used in 11% of violent incidents involving a weapon against children.

Over the year to the end of June 2012 there were 19,382 disposals given for possession  of a knife or offensive weapon.

Juveniles (aged 10-17) were the offenders in 17% of cases.  The custody rate was 10% for juveniles and 28% for adults.

A Court of Appeal judgement in May 2008 said that magistrates should normally sentence those convicted of knife crime possession offences at the top end of the range.  Following this custody rates and average custodial sentence lengths have risen.

NHS data suggests there were 4,490 people admitted to English hospitals in 2011/12  due to assault by a sharp object.

 

Related Reading:

 
Gun Control By The Numbers
  
Gun Control Is Quintessentially Anti-American And Racist
  
The AWB or CCW Laws:  Which Has Had More Of An Impact On The Murder Rate?

Gun Control:  Well, The Trouble With Our Gun-Grabbing 'Friends' Is Not That They Are Ignorant, But That They Know So Much That Isn’t So.

Gun Bans:  Mad Dogs And Englishmen

Black Religious Leaders:  Gun Control Is All About Controlling People

Gun Control & Rape:  Just Lie Back, Spread Your Legs, And Take One For The Gun Control Team???  No Thanks.

After The "Toughest" Gun Law, Gun Crime Rose

Gun Control?  Surprise!  Europeans, Like Americans, Resist Any Gun Ban

Ask An "Educated" Gungrabber:  Who's More Dangerous -  An American Woman With An Ar-15 Or A Nazi WIth A Sturmgewehr in 1942?






Mad Dogs and Englishmen - Leon Russell

kids, planes, runway strikes
flashy pimps and family fights
spotted dogs, blood shot eyes
our space captain laughs and tries
to understand the scheme of things
but just in time the scene has changed
the bus is here, bring the beer
Sherman's reading Shakespeare
movie makers, boobie shakers
saxy airplane ticket takers
union members, Leo Fender's pride and joy, electric toy
teachers, learners, incense burners
religious leaders, chronic bleeders
thieves and pirates on a ride
it's a hippie commune BONAFIDE!!!!!!
but Okies and Limeys, curtain climbers {{IT IS BONAFIDE-I
Stones and future Dominoes
know which way the wind blows JUST LISTENED
stolen cola no one knows, the shadow do AGAIN)
but it's still a shady crew
'cause I love her, and she loves you
just myself and forty friends in the name of Cocker power
out here on the road again
with Mad Dogs and Englishmen



Mad Dogs & Englishmen - Noël Coward 

In tropical climes
There are certain times
Of day
When all the citizens retire
To take their clothes off and perspire.
It's one of those rules
That the greatest fools
Obey,
Because the sun is far too sultry
And one must avoid its ultry
Violet ray.
The natives grieve
When the white men leave
Their huts.
Because they're obviously,
Definitely
Nuts.
Mad Dogs & Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The Japanese don't care to,
The Chinese wouldn't dare to,
Hindus and Argentines
Sleep firmly from twelve to one,
But Englishmen
Detest a
Siesta.
In the Philippines
They have lovely screens
To protect you from the glare.
In the Malay states
There are hats like plates
Which the Britishers won't wear.
At twelve noon
The natives swoon,
And no further work is done,
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun!
Such a surprise
For the eastern eyes
To see,
That though the English are effete,
They're quite impervious to heat.
When the white man rides
Every native hides
In glee.
Because the simple creatures hope he
Will impale his solar topee
On a tree.
It seems such a shame
When the English claim
The Earth,
That they give rise
To such hilarity
And mirth.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo,
He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he,
Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm, hm.
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The toughest Burmese bandit
Can never understand it.
In Rangoon
The heat of noon
Is just what the natives shun,
They put their Scotch
Or Rye down
And lie down.
In a jungle town
Where the sun beats down
To the rage of man and beast,
The English garb
Of the English sahib
Merely gets a bit more creased.
In Bangkok
At twleve'o'clock
They foam at the mouth and run,
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun.
The smallest Malay rabbit
Deplores this foolish habit.
In Hong Kong
They strike a gong
And fire off a noonday gun
To reprimand
Each inmate
Who's in late.
In the Mangrove swamps
Where the python romps
There is peace from twelve to two,
Even caribous
Lie around and snooze,
For there's nothing else to do.
In Bengal,
To move at all
Is seldom if ever done.
But mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday
Out in the midday sun!