Gun Crime -- A different view .

This is an article by a lady presenting a different view of gun control , it really does need wider dissemination , so here goes :

The laws banning the ownership of certain firearms in Britain are futile. As the events of recent weeks testify, the criminal fraternity – whose sheer resourcefulness is all too often underrated – already has them in abundance. As is the case with recreational drugs, the act of making guns illegal doesn’t actually prevent people from owning or using them; it simply criminalises it, in the (increasingly vain) hope that those caught flouting the law – if they are caught at all – can be prosecuted.

Semi-automatic weapons were banned in this country in 1988. The ownership of handguns was later outlawed in 1997 as a result of the Dunblane massacre, when Thomas Hamilton opened fire at a primary school, leaving 16 children and one teacher dead. A five-year mandatory minimum term for possessing an illegal firearm came into force in 2004 and in May of this year it was extended to include 18 to 20-year-olds. Later this year, the government will ban the sale, manufacture and importation of realistic imitation firearms.

Fatally flawed

However, in the two years immediately following the ban on handguns, their use in crime actually increased by 40%, from 2,648 in 1997/1998 to 3,685 in 1999/2000. And between 2005/2006 and 2006/2007, according to provisional statistics, the number of murders involving firearms in the UK rose 18%, from 49 to 58 – indelible evidence that it is illegal guns, as opposed to licensed firearms, which are the real threat to public safety. You may – for the time being – be four times more likely to be killed with a knife, but firearms are almost as easy to obtain and getting progressively cheaper, with prices starting from as little as £150.

And, as is so often ne’er-do-wells’ wont, efforts to smuggle outlawed weapons into this country have involved dazzling ingenuity, from guns disguised as key rings no bigger than a matchbox to screwdrivers adapted to fire off a round of ammunition. Britain’s gun laws, rather than reducing violent crime, are actually serving to perpetuate it. Demonstrably doing little – if, indeed, anything – to prevent deadly firearms being procured by the murderously inclined, they are simultaneously doing a great deal to prevent potential victims from defending themselves.

Too little, too late

Following the recent murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones in Liverpool, it was announced that “a review of how police work to keep deadly guns off the streets will be carried out.” Not good enough. “Police officers will be speaking to members of communities blighted by gun crime as part of the review.” Too little, too late.

Until such time as something is done to level this fatal playing field, gun-toting sociopaths are free to murder whomever they please, fearing little more than the remote prospect of spending an all-too-brief spell of their miserable lives at Her Majesty’s Pleasure. So long as the sole reprisal faced by these death-dealing barbarians remains the toothless bite of our creaking, antiquated and all-too-frequently flawed judicial system, the killing spree – much of it linked to the ascendancy of gang culture – will continue to gather pace.

Evening the odds

What is needed now, in place of knee-jerk political posturing, is not soundbites, but to inject a palpable sense of fear into those who would inflict such fear upon us: in short, to equip would-be victims with the means to legally even the odds. When confronted with a homicidal maniac wielding a lethal weapon, wagging one’s finger disapprovingly and giving the aggressor a good telling off does nothing for one’s self-preservation. The time has come to fight firearms with firearms.

Picture, if you will, the wonderment spreading across the face of a would-be assassin as, on pointing his weapon at some decent law-abiding citizen, he promptly finds himself (or, indeed, herself) nose-to-barrel with a Desert Eagle.

Spineless miscreants

Make no mistake: I am not advocating the UK descend into armed-to-the-teeth anarchy, nor am I a right-wing activist. Quite the contrary: I am a liberal, albeit a revolutionary one. What I am advocating is responsible gun ownership, incorporating age restrictions, psychological analysis, comprehensive weapons training, registration, regulation and severe punitive measures for anyone discharging their weapon in anything other than self-defence – all within a watertight legal framework.

Only the prospect of finding themselves staring down the barrel of a gun, pointed by a legally empowered member of the public who has been weapons trained to a far higher level than they and is entitled to pull the trigger in self-defence, will give these gutless would-be killers – the kind of spineless miscreants who view an ASBO as a badge of honour – pause for thought.

To misquote John Lennon, it’s time to give peace – through superior firepower – a chance.

Have your say: should the law be changed to allow us to carry firearms?

By Laura Snook, MSN UK News Editor

This is a refreshing change to the usual views on gun control , contrary to popular opinion this does work in the U.S.A.

The old saying " an armed society is a polite society ." is perfectly true , but the British public is afraid of the truth .