Two points I would like to make about this statement.
One, total numbers don't tell the whole story, as the rate per x number of population is a more telling figure. The US population is over 300 million, vs. quite a bit less for the UK. Plus, the "handgun murder rate" will differ from the overall murder rate (murders committed using any kind of weapon, including bare hands).
Second, not all handgun deaths are innocent victims. We have a gentleman in our midst named Jeff Cooper who has written extensively about guns, self defense, and other issues (I highly recommend reading some of his material, such as the book "To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Tell the Truth). He says there is something called the "good riddance factor", which is when punks and thugs kill each other, thus doing society a favor.
'One, total numbers don't tell the whole story, as the rate per x number of population is a more telling figure. The US population is over 300 million, vs. quite a bit less for the UK. Plus, the "handgun murder rate" will differ from the overall murder rate (murders committed using any kind of weapon, including bare hands).'
Fair point - here's the figures for murders per capita with firearms. It doesn't help your argument either! :D
'Second, not all handgun deaths are innocent victims.'
The figures I quoted are for murders with firearms as defined by the police. I understand some of those people may have deserved to die, but probably not enough to explain the difference between 62 murders in a country of 60m versus 8259 in a country of 300m, unless 8197 of your murders were bad guys! :D