Gun crime is only loosely linked to gun ownership rates. Its more about a culture of criminal violence than anything else.
When I was a kid we used to take our sheath knives and Gat guns (Webley pistols only if you were very rich) to school to play with at breaktime. Can you imagine that now! Only recently a guy was arrested for walking near a school with an air rifle, oh how times have changed and sometimes not for the better either.