Issue 153

Crash course in... gun crime

26th February 2007

After a recent series of fatal shootings, the problem of gun crime in UK cities has been brought to the attention of the press.

Five people have been murdered in London over the past month or so - three of them teenagers, and two of them in their own homes.

This leads on to the question of what, exactly, is gun crime, and why is it provoking more of a response in politicians than knife crime?

Simply enough, gun crime can be defined as illegal activities undertaken using firearms, from muggings, and robberies, to murders and gang crime, as the recent deaths in London have highlighted. Despite the illegality of firearms in the UK for all but the police and armed forces, there is still a black market of small arms and ammunition supplying the gangs in their illegal activities.

So what are the proposed solutions to this increase in gun violence, if there are any at all? Several solutions have been suggested by most of the main political parties: the most popular solution at the moment in the government is to increase the penalties for weapon ownership. Tony Blair suggested to the BBC that the "minimum age at which someone faces a mandatory five-year jail sentence for possessing a gun could be reduced from 21 to 17", along with "considering criminalising gang membership."

In addition to these measures, Mr Blair was also considering making it a criminal offence for an adult to pass a weapon to a younger sibling or friend. Mr Blair denied that the announcements were a "knee-jerk response" to the recent killings.

Conservative leader David Cameron, however, believes that more concentration on family values and better parenting will help stem the tide of firearms offences, as most offenders are teenage males, stating that "a lack of role models was fuelling gang culture and called for fathers to be compelled to take a greater role in bringing up their children."

Contrary to the opinions of the two main parties, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell told the BBC that there were "no quick fixes" to the problem of gun crime and firearms offensives.

The massive increase in firearms offensives may spell the end of the unarmed British policeman as the police forces around the country are forced to react to the changing criminal landscape. At the moment only about 5% of policemen and women are armed on a regular basis, mostly employed in preventing terrorism around high vulnerability targets such as the Houses of Parliament, major airports and train stations.

Should the current trend for armed gangs continue, the Government may have to react by meeting force with force.

Dan Shaw