Despite that minor angular quibble, at the very least guns are nearly outlawed, yet thousands of people somehow wind up shooting others.
I guess that piece of paper that the governor (broad based term here) signed wasn't worth a nickel - but you all paid plenty for it, which is pretty much what is so upsetting.
I don't mind the rock stars getting money for nothing and chicks for free but politicians? That right there is fucked up.
Man this wine is good. Gotta go. Some reloading to do and then it's up and down the snowy hills for me.
Penta wrote:Woodsman wrote:If I'm not mistaken, gun crime has gone up proportionally to the restrictions to guns in England.
I think you are mistaken. Crime statistics are notoriously difficult to read sensibly. For instance, recorded gun offences go up every time there's a new restriction, because of the number of people who haven't yet complied with the new requirements. That doesn't mean that people are being threatened, injured or killed by guns more often. Or they apparently go up one year, but it turns out that it's only because there's been a much bigger reduction than usual the previous year. The trend in all offences involving firearms is clearly downwards. Here's the relevant bit from the latest British Crime Survey:
Offences involving firearms
Provisional statistics for 2009/10 are available for police recorded crimes involving firearms
other than air weapons (referred to as ‘firearm offences’ in the remainder of this section).
Firearms are taken to be involved in an incident if they are fired, used as a blunt instrument
against a person, or used in a threat. Finalised figures are planned for publication in January
2011.
Provisional figures show that 7,995 firearm offences were recorded in England and Wales in
2009/10, a three per cent decrease from 2008/09 (8,208). Following the introduction of the
NCRS in April 2002, there were small increases in the number of firearm offences recorded
by the police until 2005/06, followed by a general downward trend since. This mirrors the
trend in police recorded violence against the person. The number of firearm offences
recorded in 2009/10 is 22 per cent lower than in 2002/03 (Figure 3.3 and Table 3.10).
Provisional firearm offences can be broken down both by injury and by the type of weapon
used (Tables 3.10 and 3.11).
• There were 39 firearm offences recorded by the police that resulted in a fatal injury in
2009/10, the same number as the previous year.
• The number of injuries resulting from firearm offences increased by eight per cent from
1,764 in 2008/09 to 1,901 in 2009/10. This follows a substantial 46 per cent decrease in
the previous year, which was largely due to reductions in offences that resulted in slight
injuries.