How's that gun ban working for you, England?

When I was in the Amsterdam airport on Saturday, I found myself in KLM's Crown Club with some time on my hands before my next flight. I went to grab a newspaper, and found a copy of the Guardian, an English publication.

The headline? This story, about an 11-year-old boy that was apparently shot and killed at random by one of several teen gangs in the Croxteth Park section of the city of Liverpool.

What's even worse about this incident is that the print edition of the paper had a number of pictures showing screenshots of YouTube videos that the suspected involved gangs have posted on that website, bragging about their firepower. The videos show gang members proudly displaying large-caliber revolvers, sawn-off shotguns, and even fully automatic submachine pistols. Of course, private gun ownership is completely banned in England, so the gangs shouldn't be able to obtain such weapons, correct? Oh, that's right, the gangbangers are criminals, who by definition don't obey laws anyway, so now we see how effective such overreaching, freedom-depriving statutes are in stopping violent crime. The bad guys continue to get whatever they want, and the law-abiding citizens are deprived of any means of defending themselves against these animals.

"All the kids in the gangs round here carry weapons," said one of three 16-year-old boys who had just collected his GCSE results. "They've got everything: knuckle-dusters, knives, guns, short swords. They won't think twice about shooting you."

Outstanding. This is what decades of coddling criminals while at the same time denying regular people their right to self-defense has gotten them. Of course, the people in charge have decided that furthering their failed policies is just the solution to pursue:

"Gordon Brown last night promised tougher enforcement of existing gun laws and to pass any new legislation that is needed to deal with the growing problem of teenage gang culture."

That's just what you need, Mr. Brown. More and more laws that only the peasantry will obey. How about allowing citizens to have the means to defend themselves? I guarantee that once a few of these thugs get deep-sixed by their potential victims, the crime rate will plummet. They might be uneducated, but they aren't stupid. If they believe that their behavior might get them dead, they will be much less likely to do it. This has been just the case in the U.S., where every state that has passed "shall issue" handgun carry legislation has experienced a significant drop in violent crime.

I hope that no other kids like Rhys Jones have to die before England learns this lesson.