Poll:Should I move to the UK to get away from...?

Question

...this gun culture here in the US?

Today,a high school 3 miles down the road from me had a student who shot up a trophy case,then threatened suicide with the handgun.Luckily,the principal talked the boy out of any bodily harm towards anyone...but I think of what could have happened and it makes me physically ill.

I think it is extremely difficult/impossible for the average person in the UK/Ireland to buy a gun,is that right?

Answer 1

no, you cant buy a gun over the counter like in the us but gun crime and stabbings are going up here, are you not better moving to another part of the usa rather than uk, i was thinking difficulty getting visas

Answer 2

It is difficult to buy a gun legally here in the UK, but the criminal element seem to be able to get their hands on them quite easily. American gun culture is appalling and I sympathise with you but you need to think really long and hard before you move to another country to get away from the threat. You seem like a decent person as most Americans  are and your attitude to guns is commendable but that hard core of dye hard gun fanaticists really need to rethink their position. The thing is though if you leave home because of your fear you more than likely find something in another country that is equally upsetting.  

Answer 3

It's easy enough to get hold of certain types of firearm - specifically shotguns - but they have to be properly licensed and stowed away in a manner approved by the plod. Handguns remain illegal, but again they are available and anybody suitably determined could get hold of one if they made the right contacts. Only recently a chap was put away for converting readily-available replica guns in to working models.

That said, and despite a rise in gun crime, it's still a rarity.

Knife crime is a far more common if equally unpleasant recent phenomenon.

I sympathise very much with the gun thing you have to put up with.

Guns have a way of making weak people far too dangerous.

Come to the UK anyway. You'll need a brolly and wellies for the summer, and a portable igloo for the winter. And remember not to go on too much about our teeth, or the locals may do to you what your lot did to our tea some considerable time ago :oP

Answer 4

Gun crime is very rare in the UK and it is 100% illegal to own a gun. If someone wanted to get hold of a gun here then they could if they tried very hard but these people wouldn't be your average citizen anyway. Inner cities have the worst gun/knife related crimes so don't move anywhere like that.  

Answer 5

Yes! you should go to Ireland or Scotland you will love it.

Answer 6

yeah, come over here and get stabbed instead, knife crime is booming in the UK right now.

Answer 7

It is impossible to legally buy a handgun, or automatic weapon. It is also impossible to buy a shotgun without "genuine reason" (usually sporting or farming - self defence is not a reason). Even the olympic pistol team have to train abroad.

However that doesn't mean you can't get hold of a gun.

Nevertheless most people don't own one, or even know of someone who owns one, and as such gun crime is much lower here than in the states. The main problem in the UK at the moment is knife crime, levels of which are rising. However, we still have lower violent crime than the US does. There's been one school shooting as long as I can remember here in the UK - and that was more than a decade ago.

Answer 8

oh Larry B go boil your head gun crime and knife crime in the UK is low low low, just coz the press are banging on about it don't let them scare you.

yes when its on the frunt page every day you start to think oh my god but there are more people killed on our roads in a month that get killed by a knife or gun.

more young people kill them self in the UK in a month than die in a year from a gun our knife so please don't let it scare you

Answer 9

correct - it's illegal to own guns in the uk. I mean we do have gun crime too, but I don't think it is anywhere near as bad as in America. We've never had this "students running around killing everybody in sight" as far as I know. There are certain places to avoid - but I mean you're not going to be heading straight for the slums of london or manchester anyway, right?

Ok Larry has a point - people do get stabbed, but again it tends to be in the built up, poor areas of large cities. But there are tons of safe, sweet suburbs around all large cities. I used to work in manchester and had to go through the absolute worst part of it (princess road, by moss side), I used  public transport and always felt totally safe. I think this stabbing and gun crime is only really between gangs and it's not like they run around in broad daylight with guns...

Actually if you are looking for somewhere really safe, I hear Japan has the lowest crime rate for a densely populated modern country - but it might be too much of a culture shock :D