As an American living in England, I feel as though I have escaped the Matrix. America’s right-wing echo chamber has warped all sense of what is normal for an advanced developed society.
Guns are very much regulated in the UK but are not illegal.
In England, Wales and Scotland, anyone aged 14 and above may own and use a section 1 firearm if they hold a valid firearms certificate for it. In Northern Ireland, a person must be 18 and above to possess a firearm, though over-16s can use one in the company of an adult who holds a license.
www.theguardian.com/.…
The criminals and disaffected youth that fall into street gangs, typically arm themselves with knives instead of guns because, unlike the US, it is actually pretty difficult for someone to get a gun illegally.
So, the US Right will say that knife crime is as big an issue as gun crime. It is NOT. When someone is stabbed to death here, it makes national news here and various politicians, media pundits and community activists will be spend a week or so on TV, online or in print analyzing and debating the pending collapse of British society.
When someone is stabbed to death in America, it makes maybe 1 or 2 minutes of the local TV news.
There were 34 firearm homicides in the US per million of population in 2016, compared with 0.48 shooting-related murders in the UK.
Knife murders are also higher stateside: there were 4.96 homicides “due to knives or cutting instruments” in the US for every million of population in 2016.
In Britain there were 3.26 homicides involving a sharp instrument per million people in the year from April 2016 to March 2017.
www.euronews.com/…
"Knife violence is a serious issue for London. We are proud of the excellent trauma care we provide and of our violence reduction programmes. The Royal London Hospital has cut the number of our young patients returning after further knife attacks from 45% to 1%.
"There is more we can all do to combat this violence, but to suggest guns are part of the solution is ridiculous. Gunshot wounds are at least twice as lethal as knife injuries and more difficult to repair. We are proud of our world-leading service and to serve the people of London."
www.bartshealth.nhs.uk/...