New Zealand decides to raise its murder rate

Time mag: New Zealand Has Passed Sweeping Gun Laws Banning Most Semi-Automatic Weapons

(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday passed sweeping gun laws that outlaw military style weapons, less than a month after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch left 50 people dead and dozens wounded.

A bill outlawing most automatic and semi-automatic weapons and banning components that modify existing weapons was passed by a vote of 119 to 1 in the House of Representatives after an accelerated process of debate and public submission.

The bill needs only the approval of New Zealand’s governor general, a formality, before becoming law on Friday.

Britain has probably the strongest anti-gun laws in the world. The result? A year ago, London's murder rate climbed higher than New York City's.

LONDON — When British police launched a murder investigation Tuesday into the shooting death of a 17-year-old girl it pushed the homicide rate in Britain's capital to a new, troubling milestone: London's murder rate surpassed New York City's for the first time.

London tallied 15 murders in February and 22 in March, slightly more than New York City for the same two months, which logged 14 in February and 21 in March, according to murder rate statistics provided to USA TODAY by London's Metropolitan Police and the New York Police Department.

As for 2019, The Sun reports,

There were 132 murders in the capital in 2018.

The total number of London murders, excluding victims of terrorism, has shot up by 38 per cent since 2014.

It has been well documented in Britain that knife assaults and murders have risen rapidly, 20 knife murders in London alone this year through April 3. In fact, London police set up an amnesty box where anyone could drop a knife. Criminals, being, well, criminals, emptied the box, taking the knives because, hey, free knives!

I stoutly maintain that disarming the general public, who are peaceful and law abiding to a super-super-majority, thinking it will reduce weapons crimes, makes no more sense than making me give up my car because a criminal crashed a stolen car.