posted on January 6, 2003 04:24:38 PM new
Shows that gun control doesn't work. The criminals are still getting guns & but the Brits are finally going after them the correct way.
Britian Pushes for Stiffer Gun Penalties Email this Story
Jan 6, 3:02 PM (ET)
By BETH GARDINER
LONDON (AP) - Worried by an increase in gun crime, Prime Minister Tony Blair's government proposed tightening Britain's already tough firearms laws Monday.
Officials said they would press for a minimum five-year prison sentence for anyone caught with a handgun or automatic weapon, both of which have been outlawed for years. There is currently no minimum sentence for carrying an illegal weapon.
"While we already have some of the toughest gun laws in the world, there has been an unacceptable increase in the flagrant use of guns in crime across the country," Home Secretary David Blunkett said. "Introducing a tough minimum sentence ... will send a clear message that serious, violent offending will invariably be dealt with in the strongest manner."
The announcement came after two teenage girls were shot to death in the central English city of Birmingham last week, but officials said the sentencing proposal was planned before their deaths.
Latisha Shakespear, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were killed when they were caught in the middle of a turf war between rival gangs, police said. Two other bystanders were also wounded.
The proposal will be added to the Criminal Justice Bill being considered by Parliament. Because Blair's Labor Party has an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons, bills he backs generally pass.
Blunkett is also reportedly considering banning replica guns which can be adapted to fire real bullets.
Some critics said stiffer sentences would do little to deter violence and unnecessarily interfere with judges' sentencing discretion. Judges now have final say on the length of jail terms.
James Paice, Conservative Party spokesman on law and order issues, said the proposal failed to address the complexities of gun violence, and wasn't "a considered response to a terrible problem."
Gun crimes are relatively rare in Britain, where handguns were banned in 1997 after the massacre of 16 children and a teacher at a primary school in Dunblane, Scotland.
There were 73 gun homicides in England and Wales in the 2000-2001 fiscal year, which runs from April to April. The United States, with about five times the population, had 8,719 firearm murders in 2001, according to the FBI.
Many experts say firearms have flooded into Britain from the Balkans over the last decade. The number of crimes in which handguns were used increased by 9 percent in 2000-2001 from the previous fiscal year, and newspaper reports say government crime statistics due out later this week will show a further jump.
The most reliable statistics show that overall, crime in Britain has steadily declined in most categories over the past several years.
If approved by lawmakers, the minimum sentence could become law by the end of the year.
Sir John Stevens, the commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police, welcomed the proposal, saying it would send a clear message to criminals.
posted on January 6, 2003 10:40:40 PM new
I liked number tweleve "12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917."
And I thought the most striking one was number eight "8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet."
Thanks for the link, Linda. And good article too, Bear.
