England has forgotten the lessons of history by Jim Butler

Gun control was instituted in England following WWI, a turbulent period, by the ruling elite who had become alarmed at the working class wanting to better their conditions and who feared a "Red Revolution". These gun control measures had nothing to do with reducing crime, but were a means to control the working class.

This lasted until the start of WWII when Hitler's blitzkrieg overran most of Europe and was at England's doorstep. At this time England realized they didn't have enough firearms to hold off a Nazi invasion and made an urgent appeal to the United States and it's private citizens for firearms of any kind.

England's sad state of affairs was brought about because small arms development had stagnated and fallen behind the United States. Why? Inventors and firearms manufacturers were discouraged from developing and manufacturing better small arms as there was no market for these products -- an unfortunate unintended consequence of England's anti-gun measures.

In contrast, the United States entered WWII with the semi-automatic M1 Garand followed shortly thereafter by the semiautomatic M1-carbine (later versions were capable of full auto fire), while the poor brave British soldiers struggled along with their manually operated bolt action pre WWI type rifles.

Once again today, the British have forgotten the hard earned lessons of WWII. Firearm ownership, except for the elite, is practically non-existent. England, unlike the United States has no written Constitution and Bill of Rights; this allows their Parliament to ban firearms and authorize arbitrary searches and seizures of it's law-abiding citizens.

When the British tried these tactics in our country during Colonial times, it led to the Revolutionary War in which the American people overthrew their yoke of oppression.

The American people didn't like police-state tactics then - neither do they like them today.

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