We have guns in our headlines over here just about on a daily basis, usually drug related, often with innocents (children, old women) caught in the crossfire. Knives are kind of passe. We also have a whole thing about blaming immigrants for a lot of stuff, including the jobs thing, also drugs and the dole, as you UKer's call it (we call it Welfare). I guess it's like that old song goes,
"Its the same the whole world over ..... It's the rich that get the gravy and the poor that get the blame."