on a recent documentary about a Canadian professor who studies murder & violence (Ill try to look up the name) one is 10x more likely to be killed by a gun in the US than the UK. And 5x as likely in the US as opposed to Canada.
SOme interesting comparisons were between small town in Alabama, and Newfoundland, very similar population in terms of gun ownership, level of education etc. except one had several times the murder rate of the other. Apparently NEwfoundland has one of the lowest in the world, mostly due to history and culture. Since there were no police in the past troublemakers were often ostracized by the community and it seemed to work.