[DanaC]

@ Sarge:

Just to clarify: I don't think those figures mean that Americans are more violent than Brits. I just think that where violence does occur it is more likely to escalate to serious injury or death when people are carrying weapons.

If anything I suspect that at an interpersonal level we may be more violent: I have no evidence to base this on, just a gut feeling, but I suspect that you are more likely to get into a fist fight in the UK than you are in the US. But most such fights are probably unrecorded. I think the probable lack of weapons in any given situation combined with a heavy drinking culture mean that people are more likely to throw a punch in anger here than in the US. Street fights have been a part of British culture for a long time. In the 18th century the British were known for their propensity to settle arguments with a fist fight and everybody just stood around and watched, cheering them on :p I'm not sure we have changed all that much lol. Go into any city centre on a Friday night and you're likely to see a brawl.

You're also, as those figures show, marginally more likely to get knifed or glassed in the UK. Brits like their blades. They are much more a part of our culture than guns.

I also think that, weapons aside, there are other factors at play: it is almost certainly easier to police a smaller nation. Other than London, even our cities are pretty small. Most are comparable to towns in the US. When we talk about a 'no go area' in an inner city we are talking about a tiny area of a few blocks. We're also pretty tightly packed here. We live in very small houses for the most part and don't have much space between us.

But that size differential adds to my reasons for not wanting a proliferation of guns here. It really wouldn't take much for guns to become a major problem with such a small and tightly packed population. Add in the aforementioned drinking culture and I really don't think more guns would be a good thing :P