In related news:

Police officers in Seattle, Washington held their first gun buyback program in 20 years this weekend, underneath interstate 5, and soon found that private gun collectors were working the large crowd as little makeshift gun shows began dotting the parking lot and sidewalks. Some even had “cash for guns” signs prominently displayed.

Police stood in awe as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line for the buyback program.

People that had arrived to trade in their weapons for $100 or $200 BuyBack gift cards($100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault weapons) soon realized that gun collectors were there and paying top dollar for collectible firearms. So, as the line for the chump cards got longer and longer people began to jump ship and head over to the dealers.

John Diaz, Seattles Police Chief, wasn’t pleased with the turn of events stating “I’d prefer they wouldn’t sell them,” but admitted it’s perfectly legal for private individuals to buy and sell guns, FOR NOW. Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference the private transactions are a loophole that needs to be closed. “There’s no background checks, and some (guns) could be exchanged on the streets that shouldn’t be in circulation.”

But Schuyler Taylor, a previous gun retailer attending the event in hopes of buying weapons, asked “Why not offer them cash versus a gift card? I’m still taking the guns off the streets; they’re just going in my safe.”

People were reportedly, at one point, jumping out of vehicles whilst sitting in traffic – making on the spot deals with the gun buyers.

But the BuyBack wasn’t a bust. On the contrary – their $80,000 supply of gift cards didn’t last but 2 hours, and by 11:00 am they began attempting to issue IOU’s at which point the entire crowd responded by turning and marching toward the gun dealers, forcing the police officers to pack it up for the day.

On one last note of hilarity, the Seattle Police department claims that they will check the buyback guns to see if any were previously stolen and, if so, try to return them to the rightful owners! LOL. Brilliant!

In 1992, Seattle police collected more than 1,200 guns in a four-day buyback program.

Now the only question is, when will the Seattle Police department stage the next gun show?

😎

If it’s made from inconel etc it wouldn’t need painting…. were some mild steel?

Do you actually have any figures to back that up?

It is going to be difficult to find comparable statistics but surely you cannot be suggesting that somehow the United States, with a homicide rate four times that of the United Kingdom, somehow has a ‘violent crime’ rate that is ‘way’ lower?

UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_statistics_in_the_United_Kingdom
According to the Home Office, there were around 880,000 “Violence against the person” crimes in England and Wales in 2008–9, equivalent to 16 per thousand people in England and Wales. There were about 50,000 sexual offences during the same period, just under 1 per thousand. Other areas of crime included robbery (80,000; equivalent to around 1.5 crimes/per thousand), burglary (285,000; 5 per thousand) and vehicle theft (150,000; 3 per thousand).
US:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/violent-crime/violent-crime

In 2011, an estimated 1,203,564 violent crimes occurred nationwide, a decrease of 3.8 percent from the 2010 estimate.
When considering 5- and 10-year trends, the 2011 estimated violent crime total was 15.4 percent below the 2007 level and 15.5 percent below the 2002 level.
There were an estimated 386.3 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011.
Aggravated assaults accounted for the highest number of violent crimes reported to law enforcement at 62.4 percent. Robbery comprised 29.4 percent of violent crimes, forcible rape accounted for 6.9 percent, and murder accounted for 1.2 percent of estimated violent crimes in 2011.
Information collected regarding type of weapon showed that firearms were used in 67.7 percent of the nation’s murders, 41.3 percent of robberies, and 21.2 percent of aggravated assaults. (Weapons data are not collected for forcible rape.) (See Expanded Homicide Data Table 7, Robbery Table 3, and the Aggravated Assault Table.)

Shows 50% more crimes in the US with 5x the population on the UK. So per capita the UK leads the US.

O.K. Rick. From my OWN personal experiance. As stated elsewhere on here, I was stopped in Flagstaff and booked for 2 mph over the limit. The fine was paid at the Post Office at the South Rim at the Grand Canyon. This guys area, so the Postmistress told me, was from the Hoover Dam side of Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon.
Are you stating HE,, could have travelled all those miles in 20 mins, perhaps if he were Superman.so don’t knock our chaps please, they do their best, with the little they have at their disposal.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Of course he couldn’t, that’s why we have guns to protect ourselves & others when needed. Good thing you were only being given a speeding ticket & not being mugged by some *undocumented democrat voter*… 🙂

How do you come to that conclusion?

The overall homicide rate in the United States is 4.8 per 100,000 of population; the overall homicide rate in the United Kingdom is 1.2 per 100,000 of population. I cannot quickly find any figures for wounding (or homicide) by knife but I’d guess that the figures for wounding generally would track those rates for homicide. Unless you have some figures that show differently.

Again these figures are from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

You’re talking homicide, I’m talking about crimes of violence, the UK just about leads the world, its certainly WAY ahead of the US…. Now you’ve banned guns & knives, I guess next on the list will be sharp words & glaring at people.;)

Talking of which, when my kid started to learn geometry at school (in the US) I found out that compasses are banned because they have sharp pointy bits. Not sure how they teach drafting/draughting in Elementary & High School over here, maybe they do it without having to draw circles etc. Same problem in Biology when it comes to dissecting things, they use blunt plastic knives…

Rick, We no longer live in the dark ages, I know for a fact that my old force has several Instant Response Beemer estate cars with weapons in a locked safe, within the car, to be opened by command of Ops room. And, Holy Moses, we even have one of things that has the prop ON TOP of it on standby, also we are boundered by 3 Forces, each even better equipped than my old Force, obviously we have armed Police in high risk areas, and we have them at Heathrow.
So you see Rick, we don’t need every Cop armed, poncing around flirting guns as they do over there, and don’t say they don’t, as I have had PERSONAL experience they do.You should know, your an Ex pat:), and know full well we are not so gung ho when it comes to police drawing weapons, as they are in the States.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

So you’re saying that when seconds count, the guys you used to work with were probably 30 minutes away?

But we’re all ok now, they aren’t AW’s anymore, now they are PDW’s:
http://drudgegae.iavian.net/r?hop=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theblaze.com%2Fstories%2F2013%2F01%2F26%2Fif-assault-weapons-are-bad-why-does-the-dhs-want-to-buy-7000-of-them-for-personal-defense%2F

Citing a General Service Administration (GSA) request for proposal (RFP), Steve McGough of RadioViceOnline.com reports that DHS is asking for the 7,000 “select-fire” firearms because they are “suitable for personal defense use in close quarters.” The term select-fire means the weapon can be both semi-automatic and automatic. Civilians are prohibited from obtaining these kinds of weapons.

The RFP describes the firearm as “Personal Defense Weapon (PDW) – 5.56x45mm NATO, select-fire firearm suitable for personal defense use in close quarters and/or when maximum concealment is required.” Additionally, DHS is asking for 30 round magazines that “have a capacity to hold thirty (30) 5.56x45mm NATO rounds.”

Rick, I don’t agree with your comments re the chap with the stolen AK47, here in the U.K. whether he was caught or cornered, be it a “Real AK47” or an imitation, if he was running wild, and brandishing the weapon, he may well have been shot by one of our Sniper Police Officers, but a warning may well be given to the Perp prior to.
If he still didn’t surrender the weapon, well, I guess he would have what was coming to him.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

Really? So the entire UK is covered by police snipers? No need to call 999 & wait an hour for them to show up? They are “just right there when you need them”?

Statistically (I know how fond we all are of statistics :D) your friends were more likely to be wounded or killed in the US than in the UK.

Nice twist…. They were more likely to be wounded *by a bullet* in the US, but were more likely to have been wounded in the UK….

…a stolen legally-held AK-47 in the hands of a bad guy…..surely not! :diablo:

They haven’t actually established it it was a full auto AK47 or a semi auto clone. Good thing it didn’t happen in the UK, all my friends would be in hospital suffering from stab wounds… & the guy on the ZRX would have speeding & reckless driving tickets…