"What was murder rate in UK prior to restrictive gun laws?"

As these laws have prevailed in the UK for most, if not all, of the 20th Century, and possibly some time during the 19th, I don't have that answer, nor do I see any relevance in the question. The world has changed rather more than somewhat over that period.

It's right now we need to consider, and the facts are pretty conclusive.

And you may well be right that the US is inherently more violent than the UK, but allowing everyone to run around armed to the teeth absolutely will not make it less so.

I'm astonished that, at a time when the mantra is being preached that smacking a child is bad because teaches and instils violence in him/her, it's regarded by many Americans as their 'right' to possess the means to inflict the ultimate violence. What kind of message does that give out? There are some seriously confused people over there in La-La-Land (as we Brits affectionately refer to the Land of The Free) :-) :-)