Thanks for the links Mick, I am glad that my "gut feeling" analysis of the situation in the UK seems to be born out by other posters and by those articles. The thing I reacted to was the implication (as I interpreted it) in your statement on the other thread that having increased gun controls in the UK was related to a rise in violent crime since then.
It is clear that crime involving guns is on the increase in certain inner cities in the UK but as others have pointed out, it is the increase in the availability of illegal arms from Eastern Europe and the like that has fueled this. I would venture to suggest that the kinds of tragedy that we are talking about in the school house these past few days, and the Dunblaine situation which prompted the new laws, are less likely to occur now in the UK than they were before. That's what the legislation was primarily targeted at as I understand it, taking legal "sport" guns beyond the reach of the temporarily deranged and unstable......not primarily at the use of guns by criminals/drug gangs. That is a whole different problem and needs tackling in a different way. It is what should be part of normal police work in tackling organised criminals and gangs. It is predictable and people and organisations and society can take steps to prevent and minimise the risks. Its the unpredictable and "beyond belief" outrages that most upset people and in that respect, the general consensus over here seems to be that keeping guns out of the hands of the general population makes people in the UK feels safer. However I can quite see that with so many guns being in general circulation in the US that the circumstances could dictate an opposite view there.