Gun-Free Utopia

Because, you know, if we ban all the guns, then there will be peace and harmony in the world...

From the UK newspaper, The Independent (LINK TO FULL ARTICLE):

Gun scourge on our streets: Nearly 1,000 shot this year

Three people are shot every day in England alone, and one in 10 of them is a child, according to figures seen by The Independent on Sunday. Nina Lakhani and Jonathan Owen report on the lives that have been ended or blighted by the growing gun problem in our cities

Published: 16 December 2007

The number of people treated for gunshot wounds has reached a three-year high – and more than one in 10 of the victims are under the age of 14 – prompting fears that Britain is in the grip of an escalating problem.

The figures reveal the stark truth about the battle against gun crime taking place in many of Britain's major cities. A total of 958 victims were admitted to hospital in England alone for gunshot injuries in 2006/07, according to official statistics seen by The Independent on Sunday. This was 10 per cent more than the previous year and an increase of 20 per cent on 1998/99, when records were first collected.

Despite the outlawing of handguns and clamping down on other firearms in 1997, after the massacre the previous year of 16 school children in Dunblane, the gun menace continues to escalate in the UK. Gun-related murders rose by 6 per cent to 53 in England and Wales, according to official figures for the year ending June 2007.