Gun laws and gun control, irrespective of how rigorously enforced, will not take guns out of the equation. Since Hungerford and Dunblane the incidence of gun crime in the UK has rocketed, the guns being used are illegal imports, not guns taken in household burglaries. With the exception of the shotgun most sporting guns are not suitable for criminal purposes. I liked the story of the would be armed robber in Glasgow who knocked over a sub-post office with a sawn-off shotgun. He took less than £1500 and was caught with all the cash almost immediately after the robbery. When asked where he got the gun, he said that he had taken it from a house during a burglary. The police then asked if he had sawn the barrel off the gun. When the robber said yes, the policeman showed the robber the makers plate on the gun - Holland & Holland - and told the thicko that he had just destroyed a shotgun worth about £20,000 to steal less than £1500. For someone to steal any of the guns I own they would have to find then break into not one but three alarmed safes, one contains the weapons all of which have essential working parts removed when stored, the second safe contains those parts, the third safe contains the ammunition.

In the early to mid 1960's when they first attempted to clean up knife/razor crime in Glasgow a mechanism that exists under Scottish Law was used rather effectively - the tacking on at the end of pronouncement of sentence the words "without remission". Any found carrying and offensive weapon or found guilty of assault with an offensive weapon served their full sentence. It worked then, maybe it would work now. Anyone found carrying a knife without very good reason should automatically be sentenced to five years in prison. The only time I now carry a knife is when hunting, I used to carry one at work because it was considered essential safety equipment.