Individuals found guilty of possessing weapons rose by 43 per cent from 2001 to 2005.

Between 1997 and 2006,m, the number of authorised firearms officers in England and Wales fell from 6,738 to 6,584, even though there have been increases in overall police numbers. Yet statistics released by the Home Office show the number of individuals found guilty of possessing weapons rose by 43 per cent from 2001 to 2005. Over the same period, the number of crimes involving firearms recorded by police rose by 11 per cent, from 10,023 in 2001 to 11,084 in 2005. The overall drop conceals far greater falls in key areas of cities with some of the country’s worst records on gun crime. On Merseyside, where Liverpool has been ravaged by violence, the number of firearms officers has fallen by 15 per cent, from 147 in 1997 to 129 in 2006. Yet the same area has recorded a 183 per cent rise in the number of persons found guilty of possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition between 1997 and 2005. And Merseyside has seen the number of crimes where firearms were used soar by 62 per cent, from 299 in 2002 to 485 in 2006. A similar picture emerges in Avon and Somerset, where the number of firearms officers has fallen by 29 per cent, from 165 in 1997 to 117 in 2006, while the firearms crimes soared by 62 per cent, from 131 in 2002 to 167. And in Northamptonshire, another gun crime ‘hotspot’, the number of firearms officers has fallen by 39 per cent, from 92 in 1997 to 56 in 2006. There is a good reason to consider the idea that the reason firearm related crimes are on the rise in those areas is directly related to the decrease in armed police. When gun control advocates preach the dogma of gun grabbers, they never seem to understand the idea of self defense. It seems that if the good guys give up their guns, the bad guys will follow suit. You can see, and hopefully learn from, Britain’s mistake in inhibiting its citizens ability to defend themselves.
I don’t have a reason to own a gun other than hunting, collecting and self-defense. There are millions like me. There is no good reason to increase the likelihood of a criminal attack and decrease my ability to defend myself at the same time. It simply doesn’t make sense.

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