News comes this week that Gun crimes in England have doubled over the last decade.
In Lancashire alone, the rate has risen by nearly 600%. London police are breaking with age-old tradition by sending out routine armed patrols, armed with Glock 17’s and H&K MP-5’s. Previously, the only armed officers in the Metropolitan area were the CO19 tactics units.
By all accounts, the United Kingdom should be relatively unscathed by gun violence. The English government has been abridging its citizens’ rights to firearms ownership by increasing degrees since the 1903 Pistols Act.
Following the 1996 Dunblane Massacre, English gun control efforts came to their peak. The Firearms Act of 1997 outlawed nearly all functional firearms in civilian hands, and English citizens were left with no choice but to turn in their guns. The result was the largest peacetime confiscation of firearms I can recall, and it resulted in the complete annihilation of what was once a thriving gun culture. Continued...