Safer in Britain?

[stever1950]

All the anti-gunners tout how safe it is in Britain since nobody has guns.....

http://americangunnews.com/gun-crime-co ... e-britain/

Only the bad guys have guns.

[bblhd672]

Considering that Britain has some of the most restrictive firearms laws in the world, it’s clear that a thriving black market is supplying the criminal element there.

Yet, the people who ban things can never grasp that doing so will create a black market for those things. Even the US after Prohibition didn't catch on that they only thing it accomplished was creating an criminal filled black market that exists to this day.

[Middle Age Russ]

Britain and the US have distinctly different cultural influences that extend into any arguments regarding personal safety. If you see ownership and responsibility of your personal safety as a continuum with "It's Personal and therefore MY responsibility" on one end and "Professionals (the Government) should take care of this for me" at the other, Americans trend toward the "Its Personal" end and the British tend toward the nanny state end. Note, though, that criminals on both sides of the pond understand that their safety is dependent on what they do and how they do it. In Britain this means that the criminals are more likely to have a monopoly of force (or at least they can project force more beyond arms' reach). Criminals in America have to go to the trouble to look for Gun Free (target rich) zones to be so likely to have the monopoly of force.

[eyedoc]

London is the only place I have been hurt in a crime. I was the target of an attempted robbery in the tubes, and my hand got nicked when I stopped it. I did not need stitches, but I was irritated that I can not even carry a decent knife there.

[gamboolman]

Britain and the US have distinctly different cultural influences that extend into any arguments regarding personal safety.

Very much this - I work international oil patch and work with many Brits. Lots of them - not all - will actively seek me out to criticize America and harangue me about my guns. And being from Texas......it sets them off so bad that they get to foaming at the mouth....

It is unreal the difference between the two cultures. They are truly subjects and bow to the King/Queen whether that be government or a actual King/Queen.

Having said, that - I respect their right to believe the way they do. But I take offense to them always criticizing America...

I usually either end the discussion or get the dance started - when after I have been goaded enough - I tell them thats the reason we kicked their rear twice and by the way we saved it twice....ha ha....fun times usually ensue

I have many good friends who are Brits - but they are strange bunch.

Then there was the time a few years ago I was flying British Airways on the 4 of July. That was fun...

Thank God for America and Texas

[JustSomeOldGuy]

I find the dichotomy between brit and yank especially droll, given that the conceptual base for our constitution and the 2nd amendment owes a fair amount to the Magna Carta. Somewhere along the way, they lost not only the lessons of the Magna Carta, but of Agincourt and Crecy (where commoners with longbows [the 'assault weapon' of that period] carried the day against the french).