Guns cause crime?

Glenn Reynolds:

Criminals, unsurprisingly, would rather break into a house where they aren’t at risk of being shot. As David Kopel noted in a 2001 article in The Arizona Law Review, burglars report that they try to avoid homes where armed residents are likely to be present. We see this phenomenon internationally, too, with the United States having a lower proportion of “hot” burglaries — break-ins where the burglars know the home to be occupied — than countries with restrictive gun laws.

Breitbart (hat tip: Gates of Vienna):

Labour has been accused of losing control of gun crime as new figures show a sharp rise in armed robberies.

Guns were used in 4,120 robberies last year - a 10% jump - including a 9% rise to 1,439 in the number of street robberies where guns were used...
Home Office minister Tony McNulty said: "Firearm offences have fallen significantly, by 14% in the year up to September 2006, which amounts to 1,642 fewer incidents.

"While there is a small rise in residential firearm robberies, these account for a tiny proportion of recorded offences overall, although we recognise any firearm incident is traumatic for victims." He added: "We have some of the toughest firearm legislation in Europe."

Kim Du Toit:

Well, we all know that the socialists in the Labor Party are going to do nothing of the kind [repeal the stupid laws which at once deny Brits the right to own handguns and also deny them the right to defend themselves against deadly force], because (duh) they’re socialists, and their dogma forbids them even to contemplate the thought of a free and armed citizenry instead of a docile and dependent society.

Vol-In-Law (a poster on Gates of Vienna):

The right of "free born Protestants" to keep & bear arms is guaranteed by the 1689 Bill of Rights, which has not been repealed. It was simply ignored by successive governments in the 20th century (mostly Labour), who restricted & removed this right not by legislation passed through Parliament, but through undebated administrative orders.

Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for War:

The State is not your Friend