The most violent country in history

Is the United States, to hear some people say it.  Turns out, we do have a pretty high rate of murders.  At least for civilized countries (we use the term 'industrialized', but let's face it, what we mean is 'civilized').   According to this website, we're at around 42 per every million people.  Or around 12,600 a year.

According to the little graph, the rate has also dropped rather sharply over the last ten years.

Now, according to this page, the rate in the UK has also dropped, rather dramatically.  And though some overstate the case (I've heard the UK having no more than 10 killed a year), it can't be argued that the UK's overall murder rate is impressively low.

However, I also noticed in that second website that the rate spiked in England in 2002 to almost double what it is today.  So, what did the UK do that reduced that?  What laws did it change?  What was different about living in the UK in 2002 than today?

What has the US done differently?  What laws have been passed and gun restrictions and all in the US in the last 10 years to bring about this reduction in our backyard?

I'm not saying if laws and rules can reduce violence or prevent deaths that I'm against them.  I just hear a lot of fluff with teeth when it comes to this debate.  We need to be like Europe.  We need to be like England.  We need to pass laws because of the out of control killings.  But exactly how?  Exactly what?  How will these things make the changes we want?  How will they work?  What has worked already?  Or are there other factors that we must consider?

Again, I'm no expert in this field.  Nor am I a professional statistician.  I just get the feeling that there is more to the debate than we are being allowed to discuss.