In the decade following the Labor party's election and banning of handguns in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks in the U.K. soared by 77% to 1.2 million in '07.
A recent study published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy concluded that there is a negative correlation between gun ownership and violent crime in countries internationally.
Nations with strict gun control laws have substantially higher murder rates than those who do not, in general. In fact, the 9 European nations with the lowest gun ownership rate, have a murder rate 3X that of the 9 European countries with the highest gun ownership rate. (Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573/UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html )
In the UK, possession of handguns is illegal, yet there are 2034 violent crimes per 100,000 persons compared to 466 violent crimes per 100,000 people in the U.S. (Source: ibid)
In the decade following the Labor party's election and banning of handguns in 1997, the number of recorded violent attacks soared by 77% to 1.2 million in 2007- or more than 2 attacks every minute. Kitchen knives are being used in as many as half of all stabbings in the United Kingdom and has prompted a group of doctors to call for a ban on long, pointed kitchen knives in the UK.
(Source: BBC News:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm )
In the US statistics in 2012 indicate found that states that adopted concealed carry laws reduced murders by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assault by 7.5% and robberies by 3.2% (Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/12/5gun-free-zone-john-lott/1791085)
Despite strict gun regulations, Europe has had 3 of the worst 6 school shootings. (Source: ibid)
In 1982, Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring heads of house-holds to keep at least one firearm in their house. The residential burglary rate dropped 89% in Kennesaw as compared to 10.4% in the rest of the State of Georgia. Today, the violent crime rate in Kennesaw is 85% lower that the State of Georgia or the balance of the US.
Among other valid statistics is a 11.3% error rate of police responding to violent crime vs. a 2% error rate by armed citizens response to crime.