Quote Originally Posted by David88vert View Post
Now, I'm going to give you a little history here. This one should be broken out into its own point.

In the UK, they allowed guns up until 1998, when they banned them. The final trigger for banning was a school massacre. Within a decade of the handgun ban and the confiscation of handguns from registered owners, crime with handguns had doubled according to British government crime reports. Gun crime, not a serious problem in the past, now is. Armed street gangs have some British police carrying guns for the first time. Restrictive gun laws have been around for almost 100 years in England, and getting a permit requires proving to police that you have a “good reason” for needing a gun. Self-defense is not considered to be a "good reason" in England. How is that proactive legislation working out for them in that first world country?
What other factors do you think play a role in the recent arming of police, and for the violence in the UK?
Gun culture?
Culture in general?
Population density?

What works for them, might not work for us....

Australia banned many guns following a 1996 mass murder of 35 with assault rifles. The country tightened registration laws, banned assault rifles, pump-action shotguns, and also forced a buy back of more than 600,000 guns. A 2003 study published by the Brookings Institution, found homicides “continued a modest decline” since 1997. They concluded that the impact of the National Firearms Agreement was relatively small, with the daily rate of firearms homicides declining 3.2%. Do those restrictive policies appear to be paying off?
Is it paying off? Is the firearms homicide rate declining? When you say "banned", do you mean your definition of banned, or just put on a list so that an extra step or two is required to obtain one?

Would a voluntary buyback work here in the states? Who knows. Who does a buyback target? Anyone who feels they don't need a gun to ensure their safety. Anyone who values money over guns. You know who a voluntary buyback wouldn't affect? A legal gun owning citizen who wants to keep his gun. But keep in mind, money is a major motivator today.

Is it something we should mimic? There are different factors to consider, so what works for them, may or may not work for us.