It has come to my attention many of you claim there's a greater likelihood of being a victim of knife crime in UK than in other countries, particularly America, product of the substitution effect generated by gun (firearms) control.
To test this claims, first I obtained the number violent and sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument recorded by police in UK, currently 26,146 for the financial year 2012/2013 and covering the following: attempted murder, threats to kill, actual bodily harm (ABH), grievous bodily harm (GBH), robbery, rape and sexual assault.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-march-2013/stb-crime--period-ending-march-2013.html#tab-Offences-involving-knives-and-sharp-instrumentsThen I proceeded to identify comparable crime categories being recorded by American police. Namely robbery and aggravated assault committed with knives or cutting instruments, totaling 146,868 offenses corresponding to a rate of 54.7 per 100,000.
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/19tabledatadecpdfAfter excluding 274 sexual offences involving a knife or sharp instrument from UK data (given the impossibility of comparison) and assuming a population of 56,567,800 for the year 2012, I was able to calculate UK's knife crime at 45.7 per 100,000.
As you can see, once again, gun owner's claims are unsupported by evidence.