America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA) ...a letter from Michael Moore

[spin]

258. I support the current gun laws in the state of Florida. ...

I also support the idea of universal background checks for the purchase of any firearm.

I feel that it might be a good idea to require anyone who purchases a firearm or ammunition to show proof of having completed a firearm safety course. Many other gun owners support reasonable gun laws and have excellent ideas on how our current laws could be improved.

Your suggestion that gun owners who use their firearms for sport want no controls on weapons is false. It is true that gun owners do not want unreasonable and useless laws passed but wish to see laws that are truly effective and are enforced.

Do you honestly believe that if we passed the AWB you would then be much safer? Perhaps you feel that if we banned and confiscated all firearms you would finally be safe. Let's imagine that the ban and confiscation was a absolute total success and even the criminals were disarmed which is like imagining that we can establish a colony on the moon next year. Criminals would simply use knives and clubs.

The UK was able to pass laws like you hoped for largely because there was a much lower percentage of gun owners and firearms in their nation. Unfortunately the UK is far from the utopia that Piers Morgan would have you believe. Violent crime involving knives is a significant problem despite the fact the the UK has some truly draconian knife laws compared to the USA.

UK is violent crime capital of Europe
The United Kingdom is the violent crime capital of Europe and has one of the highest rates of violence in the world, worse even than America, according to new research.
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent 7:00AM BST 02 Jul 2009

Analysis of figures from the European Commission showed a 77 per cent increase in murders, robberies, assaults and sexual offences in the UK since Labour came to power.

The total number of violent offences recorded compared to population is higher than any other country in Europe, as well as America, Canada, Australia and South Africa.

Opposition leaders said the disclosures were a "damning indictment" of the Government's failure to tackle deep-rooted social problems.

The figures combined crime statistics for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573/UK-is-violent-crime-capital-of-Europe.html

This article points out that gun crime in the UK might actually have increased after the latest gun control laws went into effect.

Gun Crime

Unlike in America, there is little debate between pro-gun control and pro-gun ownership lobbies in the UK. There is general public consensus against ownership of handguns, which is enforced under strict legislation. Guns for sport are more readily accepted, but are controlled by a strict licensing regime.

Background

Despite these strong sentiments, the UK has not averted gun crime by any means.

***snip***

Controversies

Despite the handguns ban imposed under the 1997 Firearms Amendment, research carried out following the implementation of the Act saw a 40 per cent increase in the number of gun crime incidents in the UK.

While the number of homicides from gun crime remained largely static for over a decade, 2007 proved a decisive year for this issue. A wave of gang related incidents were committed by teenagers against other teenagers, with some high profile cases ending in fatalities. London, Manchester and Nottingham were most notably affected.
http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/gun-crime

The above article is fairly long and involved but an interesting and informative read.