The Commonwealth Games was held in Sheffield last year. Among Great Britain’s medal hopes were Nick Baxter and Mick Gault. Both won gold medals at the Kuala Lumpar Games in pistol events Owing to the UK’s pernicious firearms legislation, which with the exception of Japan, is the most restrictive in the so called “free world”, these competitors were faced with holding their pistols overseas where they have to train. Tom Redhead, team manager and Great Britain coach said the situation was “diabolical”. There was even talk that they will have to pay duty on their exiled pistols when they bring them home under special licence for the duration of the Games. So, for clarities sake, let us be clear here, UK subjects who pay their taxes and obey the law are not allowed to own a pistol. The Government is content however to let armed foreigners into the country.

Great Britain’s move to disarm all licensed handgun owners occurred in 1997-8. Firstly there was a ban on all centre fire handguns but soon this was extended to include smallbore pistols and revolvers as well. At that time, the Conservative Home Sceretary, Michael Howard stated,

“The Government fulfilled its pledge to remove all handguns from the streets of Britain today…..”

So now that all of these dangerous lunatics have been disarmed, what happened next?

Handgun homicides in England & Wales reached an all time high. The Home Office reported 3,000 crimes involving illegally owned handguns were recorded in 1999-2000, including 42 murders, 310 attempted murders and 2,561 armed robberies.

New Scotland Yard’s figures showed that murders in London carried out with firearms increased by 87% in the first eight months of 2001 (compared with the same period in 2000). In the same period, armed muggings increased 53%. Now, if like me, you treat any “Police statistic” with a degree of scepticism, let us look for some international verification.

In February 2001, the Dutch Ministry of Justice published its International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) 2000, showing that 26% of people had been victims of crime that year. It concluded that Britons are at a grater risk of being assaulted, robbed, sexually attacked and burgled than any other developed country, except Australia. OK, so this is not so relevant, but it sets a backdrop of what is actually going on in the UK.

In August 2001 King’s College London Centre for Defence Studies looked at gun crime and that fact that in the 24 months post handgun ban, criminal use of handguns increased 40%. In its report “Illegal Use of Firearms in the UK”, (written by the former head of firearms research at New Scotland Yard), it concluded:
1) Banning licensed gun ownership doesn’t deter criminals from having guns;
2) Firearms robberies rose following the handgun ban
3) “The short-term impact (of the handgun ban) strongly suggests that there is no direct link between the unlawful use of handguns and their lawful ownership”.

Over the last 100 years, he British crime rate was largely unchanged. In the late 1800’s the murder rate was between 1.0 – 1.5 per 100,000. 100 years later and after the handgun ban, it is still at 1.4 per 100,000. So what is effect of banning handguns? Compare and contrast with Switzerland which has the highest level of gun ownership in the World (All males aged between 20 and 42 are required to keep an assault rifle/handgun in their home.) The homicide rate is 1.2 per 100,000.

The Governments response to this report was quite revealing. A Home Office spokesman said, “The government did not believe that banning handguns by itself would eradicate gun crime”. I could of told you that. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will carry guns.

Ann Pearson who headed the campaign to bring about this ban was at least refreshingly blunt. “We never thought that there would be any effect on gun crime, because it is a totally separate issue. What we were campaigning for was to make sure that a civilian could not be legally trained to use a handgun” Fine, so the Police and Military are still allowed to have handguns. I do recall that when I joined the Military, notwithstanding the fact I had already been shooting for ten years, I was immediately imbibed with “Jedi like” powers that meant I only then use a firearm properly and safely. Pearson, your are a stupid, ignorant, bigoted imbecile.

Thus if the “greater public good” is to be put above all other considerations such the rights of individuals let us consider another but related issue. Since 1997-8 there has been a six fold increase in the number of deaths resulting from police car chases. In 2001, the total was 44. These figures have been provided by Dr. David Best’s report, written for the Police Complaints Authority. He describes it as an “alarming trend” and concludes that the Police are putting public safety as risk. A car weighing half a ton driven at high speed is a far more lethal weapon than any form of firearm. I am not going to go into to kinetic energy calculations here, but please, trust me on this. Thus, surly the British public has the right to be protected. Ban Police cars now, or alternatively, following the same logic as handgun legislation, maybe the Police should be allowed to keep there high powered pursuit cars………..overseas.

Sources:
Gun Control’s Great Petri Dish – James O.E. Norell – www.AmericanRifleman.com

Standing Guard – Wayne LaPierre, NRA Executive Vice President – www.AmericanRifleman.com

“Police must stop these deadly car pursuits” – Will Self – Evening Standard – 28 June 2002

The Hunt for the English Pistol Team – Michael Yardley – The Field – July 2002

Crime & Society in England 1750 / 1900 – Clive Emsley

Gun Facts – Guy Smith