General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: London: a case study in the effectiveness of gun control. [View all]DanTex
(20,709 posts)The mechanism by which guns increase homicide rates is clear: guns are more deadly than other weapons. It also is supported by the data, which shows that homicide rates are higher where there are more guns.
The data does not back the hypothesis that guns reduce crime rates. The suggestion that London's high crime rates are the result of not having enough guns is absurd. If you look at the rest of the developed world -- Canada, UK, Europe, etc. -- you find that overall violent crime rates in the US are within the normal range, but our homicide rates are far higher. This is largely due to the lethality of guns.
In fact, as I've pointed out before, the fact that they have high rates of violent crime and still have very low homicide rates actually strengthens the argument for gun control.