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How Has Gun Control Worked Elsewhere?

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As the 2020 presidential election season heats up, the Democratic candidates are trying to sell a wide array of plans to infringe on your Second Amendment rights. So it seems fair to ask how gun control has worked out elsewhere. Probably nowhere else is a better comparison than the United Kingdom. L.A. Luebbert recently explained in America’s 1st Freedom, that UK efforts to rein in gun violence haven’t necessarily reduced violent crime. Luebbert writes:

As the liberals repeat their mantra that gun control is the answer to violence, Americans need to ask, “How has that been working elsewhere?” Take the United Kingdom as an example. England, after all, is often held up as a shining example of good governance when it comes to gun control. But, surprise, the United Kingdom has posted an increasing number of homicides.

In the year ending in March 2018, the last year for which statistics were available, 726 murders were reported—a 3% increase from the previous year. And, not surprisingly, a large number of those killings—285 (almost 40%)—were committed through the use of knives.

The United Kingdom has generally seen a climb in all knife incidents, with the number of police responses to knife incidents reaching more than 44,000 in 2019—a 15-year high.

The trend indicates a couple of things. First, if someone is bent on killing another person, the attacker will find a tool for the task. Second, restricting access to guns does not get to the root of the problem: that people are inherently capable of committing violent crimes.

In the U.K., it would seem that there is little fear of consequences as only a small number of infractions ever make it to court. That’s right, of the 44,076 knifing incidents, fewer than 8% of those cases resulted in legal charges.

This situation seems to mirror shortcomings in the U.S. justice system when the courts often fail to adequately punish people for criminal infractions and those sentenced for gun crimes often receive far less time in prison than the maximum prison sentences. The United States already has thousands of gun-control laws on the books at all levels, and some of those are just overlooked in big-city courtrooms and police stations. For example, federal law stipulates that a straw purchaser be sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $250,000.

But here are some actual results from Chicago, a city run by liberals for decades:

A Chicago man was sentenced to 30 months for illegally buying 25 firearms over a one-year period. Also a Chicago woman facing charges of buying guns for prohibited persons was sentenced to probation.

And the people who actually use guns during the commission of crimes against persons get similarly light sentences in many cases.

Rather than focusing on making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to buy firearms for sport or protection, the liberals need to realize that a tough-on-crime approach is a far more effective way to make people think twice about using a firearm illegally. We’ve seen it work during Project Exile in Virginia; we can employ a similar strategy across the nation if we want to combat violence.

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.