Guns

Here are some comparisons on the national homicide rate over time, the U.S. compared to the Brits.

According to Wiki, the first restrictive legislation in Great Britain was the pistol act of 1903, but it had little effect:

"The Act was more or less ineffective, as anyone wishing to buy a pistol commercially merely had to purchase a licence on demand over the counter from a Post Office before doing so. In addition, it did not regulate private sales of such firearms."

The first  significant restriction was the Firearms Act of 1920. There were additional acts in 1937, 1968, 1988, 1997 and 2006.

Here is the data on Homicide rates per 100,000:

Year	U.S.	England&Wales	Ratio
1900	1.2	0.96	1.3
1910	4.6	0.81	5.7
1920	6.8	0.83	8.2
1930	8.8	0.75	11.7
*1946	6.4	0.81	7.9
1950	4.6	0.79	5.8
1960	5.1	0.62	8.2
1970	7.9	0.69	11.4
1980	10.2	1.11	9.2
1990	9.4	1.09	8.6
2000	5.5	**1.71	3.2
2010	4.8	1.14	4.2

*No data for the U.K. 1940-1945
**The figure is for the U.K. rather than England and Wales

What seems clear is not that one side here is right or wrong; it is hard to believe that restriction makes no difference (and the argument in the U.S. is over government, not murder anyway). What should be evident is how hard these questions are and how we refuse to accept complexity, preferring to substitute arrogant outrage in the discussion.