Ravenwood - 01/09/03 12:15 PM
The near total gun ban in the UK has had the usual results.
Gun crime in England and Wales increase by 35% last year and criminals used handguns in nearly 50% more offences.This news was released by the Home Office in Britain, amid a movement to ban replica guns, air guns, water guns, sticks that look like guns, and sticking your finger in your pocket. Will UK lawmakers admit their mistake and repeal the gun ban? Not likely. Instead they look for other things to ban like water pistols and steak knives.The figures also show the number of crimes involving handguns has more than doubled since the ban on the weapons imposed after the Dunblane massacre from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871 in the 12 months to April last year.
The number of homicide victims killed by firearms increased 32%, or 23 cases, in the year to April 2002. In all, handgun crime rose 46% year-on-year.
London streets are becoming more and more unsafe, meanwhile law enforcement is cracking down on honest, hard working citizens who carry crow bars, chains, and knives in a vain attempt to protect themselves from heavily armed thugs and street gangs. I guess it's easier to arrest a would-be law-abiding citizen with a pocket knife than it is to take on a heavily armed street gang. It doesn't help that even the police in the UK are largely unarmed.
But is it any surprise that gun crime is going up, when our anti-gun laws are so weak? At the moment the penalty for owning a handgun is a pathetic five years imprisonment -- ludicrously inadequate. The solution to the problem is obvious -- Parliament should make the penalty for gun ownership commensurate to the crime, guarantee minimum jail terms that would actually be a deterrent to these criminals, maybe twenty or thirty years imprisonment.
Posted by: Arnold Bocklin at October 8, 2003 5:02 PMArnold,
Your lack of anti-gun laws aren't the problem it's your lax enforcement of laws against crime. If you lock up people who commit a violent crime (burglary, robbery, rape, murder) and let the honest folks have their guns and the right to defend themselves, you'll get results.
The problem in the UK is pretty obvious. Britain has banned guns and made it illegal for citizens to defend themselves from attack. Meanwhile, real criminals go through a revolving door justice system.
Gun laws don't affect criminals. After all, if a guy is willing to rob or murder you, not having a gun isn't going to stop him. (However the prospect of a citizen who is armed and willing to defend himself is quite deterring.)
Posted by: Ravenwood at October 8, 2003 6:09 PM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
