[Irish_Thatcherite]

I remember when I was 16 years old, and my political beliefs were left leaning and insane, I had a rare moment of reality - when John Major announced a ban on guns, in the aftermath of the Dunblane massacre, I said; "no, that will give a monopoly [of power] to government and criminals."

I somehow knew in my youthful naivete, that gun control only means criminals own guns!!

Crime is steadily rising in Ireland, but we still aren't as bad as other countries, we have a tough Justice Minister, but the rest of the Irish government is impotent.

[MNJohnnie]

"rest of the Irish government is impotent." That must make their wives very unhappy. :-)

So what does the European Establishment think the cause of the rising crime rates?

The US has actually reduced our violent crime rate to where it was in the 1960s. Still too high but better then it was. Mainly cracking down on the drug trade. Drugs ARE a root cause of disfunctionaly behavior. Better treatment. Acutally PUNISHING violent offenders. Three strikes and your out laws are a GREAT idea. Still need to do more to lock up sexual predators. Just sickening how many are allowed out again again until they finally kill but over all there has been makred imporvement in the USA.