Gun crime has risen in the U.K. over the last year.

[GURPS]

According to The Washington Free Beacon, the U.K.’s National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) held a firearm surrender program which ran from November 13 – 26. The reason? Gun crime has risen in the U.K. over the last year.

According to the Office for National Statistics:

Offences involving firearms increased by 27% (to 6,696) in year ending June 2017 compared with the previous year (5,269 offences). This was driven largely by a 25% increase in offences involving handguns (up to 2,791 from 2,224) and partly by an 18% increase in offences involving imitation weapons such as BB guns8 (up to 1,721 from 1,457), a 53% increase in offences involving shotguns (up to 652 from 427) and a 47% increase in offences involving unidentified firearms (up to 933 from 635). The latest rise continues an upward trend seen in firearms offences in the last few years. ...​

The U.K.’s Latest Gun Surrender Program Means Nothing

:shrug:

Gun Crime rising in the UK, that Gun Control Mecca

"Fewer guns, fewer massacres," writes Manly. "Obviously, this wouldn’t be the final answer to the bloodshed that plagues America, but with new insights about what it would take to reduce gun violence, it’s time to let our local, state and federal representatives know that we expect action. After all, there is no better way to make America great than to keep its citizens alive."

Manly adds: "Because the alternative to doing something — the reality of still doing nothing, even after so many unspeakable killings — is unfathomable."

First, Manly is simply incorrect regarding the notion that fewer guns means fewer massacres. A 2013 Pew Research Center study "found U.S. firearm homicides peaked in 1993 at 7.0 deaths per 100,000 people," and that "by 2010, the rate was 49% lower, and firearm-related violence — assaults, robberies, sex crimes — was 75% lower in 2011 than in 1993,” reports CNN. During that same approximate period (1993 – 2013), there was a 56% increase in the "number of privately owned firearms," according to American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

 

[Monello]

I bet changing demographics has a lot to do with the increase in crime.

 

[Kyle]

I bet changing demographics has a lot to do with the increase in crime.

Aloha Snackbar!

 

[Starman]

The headline is misleading. This is not "gun" crime, it's "firearm" crime. That's an important distinction because in the U.K., the term "firearms" includes CS gas, pepper spray, stun guns, bb guns, and soft air weapons.

Source: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27

 

[transporter]

I wonder if the boards resident statistician can explain to the group the reason why this article is written the way it is?

Can you please explain why the author used percentages and not raw number increases? (This is the sort of stuff you should have learned in a graduate level class that included stat manipulation as part of the syllabus)