Another shooting over the weekend in the Miami neighborhood of Overtown left 12 people injured at a block party. Witnesses say that three males wearing black trench coats opened up with a “chopper” (slang for an AK-type weapon) and possibly two handguns in 9mm. The shooter with the AK-type weapon was seen shooting from the hip, Hollywood style while people ran for cover.  Of course, Miami PD Chief Timoney and Mayor Many Diaz once more cried to the heavens requesting the federal renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban which according to the zeal you hear them talk about will eliminate crime, reduce male impotence, bring back the housing market and bring Michael Jackson back to life. Of course, doing some actual law enforcement in that area and in the Miami area in general would be a bit too much to ask to Chief Timoney and Mayor Diaz but that is the politics of the inefficient bureaucrat for you.

But guess what has happened in the Land of Perfect Gun Control? The Daily Mail from the United Kingdom brought us the following headline: The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S. How’s that for a kicker? You folks remember how tough Brits got on private posession of firearms and how the politicos went to the extreme of de facto criminalizing any type of self defense (check for references about Tony Martin’s case but not before ingesting you high blood pressure medicine) and promising all British Subjects a more peaceful and human living in the kingdom.  Apparently it did not happen and Great Britain has beaten everybody in violent crimes. They even provided a cute little graphic with the stats:

Right under the graphic we find the following statement:

The U.S. has a violence rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents, Canada 935, Australia 92 and South Africa 1,609.

Damn, it seems the problem was not the guns as the “intelligentsia” was tired of telling us. Remember when they told us to watch “advanced” countries like UK and adopt their ways so we could live a better life? Well, it seems that not only socialized medicine failed but also the concept of the Nanny State defending you against all evil if you gave up the right and tools to defend yourself. By the looks of it, England’s criminals are having a fair thanks to the government-sponsored nationwide Gun Free Zone.

Let’s see if government types get it this time: By definition criminals choose to ignore the law.  Capisce? If you still don’t get it, please order a copy of Guns, Violence, and Criminal Behavior: The Offender’s Perspective by Mark Progebin where he states: “convicts involved in gun-related crimes aren’t deterred by laws designed to limit the availability of firearms.” and “that gun control only affects law-abiding people and not criminals.” Now the research for this book was paid for by the US Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program with our money. Will the legislators even pay attention? Don’t count on it.

Behold the criminal! Ladies and gentlemen I present you Philip Clarkson Webb, criminal extraordinaire according to UK’s Kent Police. The 78-year-old retired teacher was walking one day when he was suddenly surrounded by Kent Police who demanded that he turned in a “dangerous weapon” in his possession. Was Mr. Webb carrying an dangerous AK 47? Perhaps a dreaded Street Sweeper shotgun? A high capacity semi automatic pistol? Dirty Harry’s .44 magnum? Nope. He was carrying his walking stick, a 3 foot long piece of wood that seniors sometime use to aide themselves while waking.

According to MailOnline, there was a climate camp environmental demonstration in the area and police were vigilant of possible activist. Mr. Webb clearly looks like one (insert snicker here) so police approached him, took away his “dangerous weapon” and left him limping to his own devices. They were polite enough to give him a receipt for the cane but when Mr. Webb went to the station to return it, the walking stick was nowhere to be found thus adding insult to injury.

This is a sad comentary on UK’s Nanny State and fear of just about anything. It also tell us much about the failed results of Gun Control proponents on reducing violence through a gun-less society: a bigger restriction or downright elimintation of our rights anf freedoms. I am sure that police saw as “reasonable” relieving Mr. Webb of his “weapon” and that is why when you hear any politician claim he or she is in favor of “reasonable” gun control, you should stock up in ammo, hide your weapons and vote for the person who would unseat that clown and respect our Bill of Rights.

I bumped into several news items published in Ski News related to the rising gun violence in England and I am amazed that it happens at all! From unarmed police officers being shot by armed thugs to teens brandishing AK-type weapons and scaring the hell out of motorists to individuals making weapons to sell to gangs none of these were supposed to be happening in the Old Country. The Queen’s subjects were guaranteed by their govrnment that banning weapons from civilian possesion was going to keep them safe. The promise did not hold.

One in 10 brits say that they have been affected by gun crimes. The number should be zero according to the gun control “experts” that still insist on spouting their failed theories. And as the gun laws are slowly being eliminated in the USA with a corresponding degree in the number of crimes, England’s viloent crime rate keeps rising.  Still the “experts’s” solution is to add new gun control laws and increasingly more power to the police without realizing that decreasing the number of victims by empowering them to defend themselves is the answer and not disarming civilians and thus creating a guaranteed pool of unarmed product for the criminal consumers.

But what do I know? I am a gun nut and they are Civilized… and dying.