I would point out that jasoncran is correct in regards to the UK. Knives have simply replaced guns as the principle weapon in homicides. Since the effete British goverment has failed in its attempt to control crime by depriving their
subjects (as opposed to
citizens ) of firearms ownership they are now working on the problem by creating "anti-stab" knives:
First 'anti-stab' knife to go on sale in Britain - Times Online
I really don't know why they don't simply ban all knives. It would make as much sense.
As usual, there is always the person who desires to make a "loaded" comparison of crime rates in the US vs. effeminate Euro countries, Japan, etc. This is a
deliberately false comparison of cherry-picked countries. They never cite, say...Switzerland. Switzerland has universal military service. After their active service, men remain in the ready reserve (something comparable to the national guard) until essentially old-age and take their military,
fully automatic weapons and keep them
at home (with an "emergency supply" of ammunition).
Thus, almost every adult male in Switzerland has a full-auto military weapon kept in his home or domicile. The homicide rate in Switzerland is comparable to that of other European countries that have "gun control".
The crazy Swiss gun nuts who
by law mandate that adult citizens have "assault rifles" in their homes have a homicide rate (per 100,000 population) of 0.70 while...
Norway - 0.60
Germany - 0.86
Sweden - 0.90
Spain - 0.90
Netherlands - 0.92
Denmark - 1.01
Ireland - 1.12
United Kingdom - 1.28
Portugal - 1.20
Italy - 1.20
Ireland - 1.12
France - 1.40
Belgium - 1.49
And, there's that other sissy, effeminate land for comparison...
Canada - 1.81
Since, among european countries which are always used as a comparison with the US, firearm availability does not seem to correlate to high homicide rates, it is possible that cultural factors are more important than simple availability of firearms.
One could also cite regimes where there is no access to firearms such as:
Cuba - 5.50
The fact that the US homicide rate is 5.00 is perhaps indicative of cultural factors. Where the race of the perpetrator is known, african-americans represent 51% of perpetrators while only 12% of the total population (Dept Of Justice - FBI Uniform Crime Reports). Once african-americans are factored out, the crime rate of "europeans" in the US is comparable to "europeans" in europe.
Lastly, I have quite an arsenal myself and my guns have killed fewer people that Ted Kennedy's automobiles. ;)