The success of victim disarmament in the UK

The UK has some of the toughest gun control legislation in the world: civilian ownership of handguns is prohibited, and ownership of long guns is tightly controlled. Of course, this has no effect on criminals, who don't obey gun laws and have thus figured out how to take advantage of victim disarmament, according to the Guardian:

Labour has been accused of losing control of gun crime as new figures show a sharp rise in armed robberies.

Guns were used in 4,120 robberies last year - a 10% jump - including a 9% rise to 1,439 in the number of street robberies where guns were used.

There was also a rapid and unexplained increase in the number of times householders were confronted in their own homes by armed criminals. Residential firearms robberies show a 46% leap, a record 645 cases in England and Wales - up 204 on the previous year and four times the level recorded in 2000-01.