(V): You'll never take the guns from US citizens without bloodshed. It won't happen.

(V): You didn't include Wales in your stats.

AD said "...the most recent government statistics show gun crimes in England and Wales have gone from 5,209 in 1998 to 9,865 in 2012 -- an increase of 89 per cent."

You said "Of the 30,470 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2010, 19,392 (63.6%) were suicide deaths, and 11,078 (36.4%) homicide deaths."

It's not a good comparison because not all gun crimes result in death. And it's not clear if suicides are always included in stats showing gun crimes... suicide is illegal but the 'criminal' is also the victim, so whether suicide counts as a gun crime or not is unclear. Also, if gun ownership is almost completely banned in the UK, then how do you account for there being any gun crime? Where did the guns come from and who has them?

A complete prohibition against gun ownership would mean that gun sales and ownership would be illegal instead of legal... and that's all it would mean. It can't actually stop anyone from getting and using a gun.

Iamon lyme: Japan has more suicides than the US and they have no gun laws. So it's not about guns anyway. Obama claims it's about "the kids" and yet he never speaks up about the hundreds that die in crime ridden DEMOCRATIC run districts. Detroit was destroyed by the liberals. Moderate liberals are ok but the far left are enemies of all that is decent. I'd even go further and say that the far left are traitors to America.

As for the Right, MANY on the right, especially those politicians that are long-timers, are just as bad as those on the far left. They are incompetent buffoons and need to be first water-boarded, and then put in stocks.

Naked.

(And by the Right I don't mean ANY in the Tea Party)

Artful Dodger: "especially those politicians that are long-timers"

Without term limits there is always a strong motivation to do or say whatever it takes to stay in office. A lot of politicians start off with good intentions, but then are tempted to keep their cushy jobs. The same thing can happen to good teachers... tenure can become the goal instead of good teaching.

Iamon lyme: exactly right. I must be smarter than I look because you say smart things and I agree with them!

Artful Dodger: Is their some relevance to such info? Suicides and murder being different things.

(V): It certainly wouldn't stop a liberal from having a gun, if that's what he wanted.

As a group liberals don't exactly have a sterling track record when it comes to obeying laws they don't agree with. In principle they would comply with restrictive guns laws because this is what they want, at least for the time being... unless or until they change their minds. When it's about laws they agree with they are adamant about compliance, but with laws they don't agree with they talk about and encourage civil disobedience.

(V): "Read more via your search engine rather relying on bad thinkers."

You can't find bad thinkers using your search engine? Why, what's wrong with your search engine?

The problem we have in the US isn't so much the bad thinkers as it is the no thinkers. The no thinkers don't realise that reducing the number of bullets in a magazine only means that a killer intent on mass murder will need to take more magazines with him. It won't do anything to stop a mass murderer from waltzing into a gun free zone to do as he pleases, until someone finally shows up to stop him... but most of the time that doesn't happen, and they don't stop until they decide to kill themselves.

And if the no thinkers understood how much hot air has been coming out of Washington they would realise that global temperatures will be rapidly rising. Within a few months from now it should become noticeably warmer. I predict this warming trend will begin peaking in June and July, and by August it could become unbearably hot.

(V): in a perfect world no one needs guns. But...