Violence in two countries.(EXERCISING THE RIGHT)(gun violence in United Kingdom and United States)

In August 2005, Roberto Malasi, an illegal immigrant from Angola residing in Peckham, England, and three other illegal immigrants entered a hall where a baby christening was being held. They were armed with pistols (in one of the strictest gun-control countries in the world); they wore hoods to disguise themselves; they planned to rob the attendees. They fired several shots to cow the crowd into submission. One of Malasi's shots struck Zainob Kalokoh, a 33-year-old mother of two, "in her head, [and the robbers] began methodically stripping the other guests of their belongings and placing them in plastic bags," reported the Guardian (London).

Fifteen days after that killing, Malasi dragged 18-year-old Ruth Okechukwu from a car that she was in with a male passenger and stabbed her repeatedly (though England also has strict laws against carrying most knives), killing her. He killed the girl, a pastor's daughter who was studying to be a teacher, because she wouldn't be quiet in the background when he was talking to his girlfriend on the phone.

According to the News Shopper (London), Malasi was not caught until the day following the stabbing when he sought police protection after friends of Okechukwu located Malasi and dragged him from his room and beat him. He pleaded guilty to murder and received two life sentences. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years. After his release he will likely be allowed to stay in England.

These murders were not an aberration for England. Despite the UK's restrictive weapons-control policies, crimes committed with guns and knives are flourishing. The BBC News reported, "In 2003, there were 31 youths aged under 20 charged with gun-related murder in London. In 2006, interim figures showed that number had risen to 76."

Fast forward to Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 12 in the Trolley Square shopping mall. Beginning at 6:44 p.m., 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, a Muslim refugee from Bosnia, used a pump-action shotgun (a type of gun few in America would admit to wanting to ban) to rampage through the mall and kill as many people as he could. The New York Times told of the methodical method in which Talovic acted: "a pump of the shotgun, the selection of a victim, another blast." Talovic's goal was not to rob, but to kill as many people as he could.

Unlike the incidents in London, the victims in the United States decided to fight back. Barrett Dodds, the owner of an art and antiques boutique, grabbed a bar stool ...