Time and time again, gun rights advocates are told just how we should embrace the gun laws of England and Australia. After all, haven’t they basically eliminated gun crime in those countries? That’s what they tell us, at least.

It’s also complete and total bollocks, as our British friends might say.

Air guns, rifles, BB guns, shotguns and pistols, including antiques and ex-military, are among the weapons police said should be handed in.

The amnesty comes less than a month after national figures revealed the number of crimes involving firearms in England and Wales increased by 27% to 6,696 in the year ending June 2017.

…

In 2014, more than 6,000 guns were handed in to police, including antique guns, imitation firearms, hand guns, rifles, shotguns and ammunition.

Detective Chief Superintendent Jo Chilton, head of Nabis, said: “Perhaps you have a gun that has been handed down through the family or you have found a firearm in your loft or shed which has been gathering dust and you had forgotten about.”

Illegal possession of a firearm can result in a five year prison sentence. If you are found guilty of possession with intent to supply, it could lead to a life sentence.

As noted, this isn’t the first gun amnesty the UK has had, and they have such tough gun laws, how can this be a thing?

Oh, right…because criminals don’t obey gun laws, but the law-abiding prey does. Thus, there is no armed response by private citizens. Hell, this is a country that hasn’t even bothered to arm their police officers. There’s almost nothing to stop the criminals from doing what they want when they want.

Let’s be clear, there is no way on Earth Americans would tolerate a 27 percent increase in any kind of crime, much less violent crimes that involve a firearm, yet this is precisely what they’re dealing with in the U.K. Meanwhile, what options do they have? They’ve already made gun ownership as a whole virtually illegal there, so what’s left?

The silliness of amnesties

They’re offering an amnesty, but does anyone in their right mind think this will really take guns used in crime off the streets? Of course not. This will allow the handful of people who have guns they won’t use for anything to get them out of the house so they don’t get arrested. That’s it.

The criminals, on the other hand, are either ignoring the news or laughing their butts off at the idea that the police think they’ll simply hand over their most effective tools simply because the government asked nicely. That’s not how it works. If they were remotely law-abiding, they’d probably not be the position of owning a gun illegally in the first place.

The problem with most of these disarmament plans is that their architects fail to understand the nature of the criminal mind. They don’t approach life quite the way you and I do. If they did, they get jobs and work hard to get ahead in life…just like the rest of us.

Instead, they seek out opportunities to come into some cash quick, fast, and in a hurry. They don’t want to spend their entire lives penned in at a job. In their mind, they’re desperate. They need money and they need it fast.

What’s faster than sticking a gun in someone’s face.

Regardless of the crime, most of them boil down to money with a few notable exceptions. When you’re talking street-level crime or organized crime, all of that revolves around violence. At best, that violence is directed at other criminals and well away from the law-abiding citizen, but often times it involves placing that gun in an innocent’s face and taking their possessions.

To believe an amnesty will work would be to assume that these criminals will somehow decide that their preferred method of raising funds was somehow not really in their best interests.

Why Americans won’t hand our guns over

Meanwhile, this is also why gun rights advocates refuse to hand over our guns. The criminals will stay armed. They always will. Even on an island like England, they continue to get their hands on firearms. We, the free citizens of this country, have a right to defend ourselves. To do that, we need the most effective tools possible for that purpose and I hate to break it to Mike Bloomberg and Shannon Watts, but that ain’t harsh language.

No, it’s a gun and it’ll likely always be a gun of some sort. Regardless of just what the future holds, it’ll still be a gun.

A 27 percent increase in gun crime would have Everytown and Giffords scrambling to Washington, throwing money around like a rapper in a strip club at every politician they even think will consider stricter laws, but even if their entire dream list was passed tomorrow, nothing would change so far as the bad guys are concerned. Well, one thing would.

It would be a lot easier to attack victims when you know they’re unarmed. Then, even the toughest citizen badass is just as defanged as the everyday sheep. Even if he’s every bit as badass as the internet version of Chuck Norris, he’s still not a match for a bullet, and that simply emboldens the criminals.

Every. Single. Time.

So stop preaching about the wonders of the U.K.’s gun laws, because they’re not as effective as you think.