Daily Diversions (Web Log)

David's Mental Meanderings
14th January 2003

Tony Blair's Government is on the warpath. Not against Iraq, but against the menace of an armed citizenry. Almost every day since the New Year, there have been further pronouncements on the evils of guns.

As if to support their policies, the Government released the latest gun crime figures. In the year following the Labour government's election (1997-98), there were 4,903 firearms incidents. In the same twelve month period of 2000-01, there were 7,362. In 2001-02, the number has risen to very nearly 10,000. Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in 12 months to April 2002 - up 35% from the previous 12 months.

Robbery was up 14.5%, while total handgun crime rose 46% year-on-year. The number of people killed by firearms increased by 32%.

I'm not saying that the Labour Government is entirely to blame. I'd like to be able to say that, but in all honesty I can't. In March 1996, a crazy man shot children at a school in Dunblane, Scotland, with a rifle. Bowing to liberal media pressure and the anti-gun lobby, just two months before the General Election of 1997, the Conservative Government banned all handguns over .22 calibre. Not rifles - handguns.

Like most Conservative policies, this is one that Labour kept when they swept into office. It's one they should have ditched. But as is the nature of politics, Labour's approach has been, "Anything they can do, we can do better." So by early November 1997, Tony Blair's Government had outlawed all remaining handguns. All the .22s had to be turned in by 27 February 1998, the anniversary of the Royal Assent to the initial ban. That's right. Within 12 months of the legislation to ban large calibre handguns, even the .22s had been handed over.

Being unaware of NRA bumper sticker politics in this country, not a single weapon was pried out of anyone's cold dead fingers. Every law-abiding person in the UK who had a working handgun dutifully showed up at their local police station and handed it over. Over 162,000 registered pistols were turned over. Of course there was no way to get away with turning them in - they were all registered and licensed. How then does gun crime continue to rise like the hot air bellowing from the Labour Government?

Two types of pistols are still allowed. Trophies of war acquired before 1 January 1946 require a certificate from the Home Secretary. Those manufactured before 1 January 1919 do not require a certificate, with the proviso that this only applies to weapons for which the ammunition is not readily available.

As is also the nature of politics, Labour needed another Dunblane-type incident - a media-grabbing gun-related tragedy - to up the stakes.

Two teenage girls were killed by machine gun fire in a battle between two rival gangs at a New Years Eve party in Birmingham. As a result, the Government is now making it illegal to carry airguns. No, I kid you not. Airguns. This is no joke. Call me a right-wing gun nut, but I just don't get the logic.

It will still be legal to use an airgun if you are over 17. That's right. You can have your first BB gun at 17 in the UK. You will have to have "a good reason" to be carrying it, e.g., transporting it to the "firing" range. The Government already made it clear that they don't believe there really is a good reason to own an airgun, so do not be surprised in a years time when there are queues of teenage boys at police stations dutifully handing in their Daisy® Red Ryders, or whatever it is that kids here have.

In a further response to the New Years Eve gangland killings, the Government is officially backing a policy by the police to offer amnesty to people turning in illegal weapons. As far as I know, neither members of the Burger Bar Boys nor the Johnson Crew have handed over their machine guns.

On the day that the Government revealed the massive increase in gun crime, police in Manchester took action. In coordinated raids they netted the seizure of 1,744 blank-firing replica guns. This won't actually prevent any firearm violence, but it will put a stop to the epidemic of track and field sports in this country.

Today the House of Commons Culture Committee heard evidence about a possible London bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012. The whole House has had a brief debate about it. This follows a House of Lord debate about the subject on December 19. The key issue seems to be whether to invest the necessary money into infrastructural improvement.

I haven't examined the transcripts to see if anyone noticed a potential problem. I had already wondered how the UK could host the Olympics when the equipment used in at least three competitions is illegal. (The British teams in the pistol shooting sports even have to train in Switzerland. If they practiced in the UK, they would be sent to prison.) That's not even considering that all the track sports are out because no one will be able to get a hold of a starting pistol.

I have to say that the Brits have finally proven the oft-repeated theory propounded by the NRA, "If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns." Everyone has turned in their guns and the levels of gun crime reach higher and higher.

Even the unofficial organ of the Labour Party, the BBC, noted in 2001 that "of the 20 police areas with the lowest number of legally held firearms, 10 had an above average level of gun crime. And of the 20 police areas with the highest levels of legally held guns only two had armed crime levels above the average." They didn't say anything about the other five police areas in the middle.

This is probably the one issue where the opinions of my US and UK readers diverge. Most Americans are shocked that Brits have just given up their firearms without a whimper. Most Brits I speak to are shocked at the number of privately held guns in America. But virtually every Brit with whom I've discussed gun laws (and they invariably bring it up soon after they learn I'm American) is entirely misinformed about his own country.

Brits assume that crime is much more prevalent in the US than in the UK. Forget reputation: US crime rates are falling, just as UK rates are skyrocketing. A UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute survey found that in the UK 3.6% had been the victims of robbery, sexual assault and assault with force. That compares with 1.9% in the US. Overall in this country, 55 crimes are committed per 100 persons. Britain has 18 offences classed as "very serious" per 100 people. In February 2001, the Dutch Ministry of Justice published its 2000 International Crime Victims Survey. It showed that 26 percent of all people in Britain had been victims of crime that year. A headline in the Independent in July 2002 summed it up, "Britain is now the crime capital of the West".

And whatever you do, don't defend yourself, even with a legal firearm. That will get you into much more trouble than being a criminal. All of my British readers and some Americans will remember Norfolk farmer Tony Martin. He got a life sentence for killing an intruder, because he had time to get his gun out before the robbers got in. That was considered premeditation and he was convicted of murder.

And if someone wants to break into your house, don't hamper their progress. In 2001, a 93-year-old lady in Northamptonshire put up barbed wire around her home after she had been robbed three times. She was ordered to take it down. Why? (I know you see this one coming, but it is the honest truth.) Because it could injure intruders.

The woman's son complained about a 75-year-old lady living in London with barbed wire around the back of her house, and nobody has told her that she has to take it down. He was reminded that his mother is not the Queen. The BBC reported that he replied, "She is to me."

So come to lovely Britain. Enjoy our historic cities and beautiful countryside. But walk fast, keep alert, and stay in groups.