WFSA Current News - January, 2003

January 10, 2003

British response to rising gun crime: nothing new
             On New Year’s Eve in Birmingham, England, two teenage girls were shot to death after being inadvertently caught in what was allegedly a drug-related gang shooting. Historically, events such as this, which cause substantial public concern and comment, are followed by ineffective and hurried legislation focusing on guns, and usually legally owned ones. It would appear that this time is to be no different.
            The Reuters report of January 9 by Mike Peacock said it is acknowledged that illegal machine guns and handguns are easily available on the black market. It has long been public knowledge that people of criminal bent are able to supply themselves with sophisticated arms, many of them ex-military. It has also been said on numerous occasions that gun crime follows drug-related activities, often of ethnic groups of young people.
            The statement of the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, following the shooting incident above, indicated that in Britain plans are afoot for introducing minimum gaol terms of five years for carrying an illegal gun. More puzzling is the intention to ban air guns and replicas. The young women killed in the hairdressing salon shooting were said to have been shot by machine guns. These have been banned in Britain for the best part of a century.
            The Reuters story of January 10, also by Mike Peacock and on the same topic, said that following a meeting of interested parties, aimed at reducing the growing “gun culture”, the intention is also to hold another gun amnesty. Previously, amnesties have been held straight after isolated shooting incidents such as at Dunblane in Scotland and at Port Arthur in Australia. Government moves quickly with the clear intention of reducing the overall number of guns in private hands, and lawful gun owners are the recipients of their attention.
            None of the independent world literature has been able to demonstrate a fall in gun crime following amnesties. It is interesting to speculate on whether the public really do believe that the kinds of people involved in the callous, random killings which sparked the present uproar are the kinds of people likely to hand in their machine guns in response to a government amnesty in place at the same time as the government is further restricting air guns.
            It continues to be clear that the total handgun ban in Britain has not worked. The articles of January 9 and 10 both outline an increase in gun crime of some 35 per cent over the last year. In blaming much of the trouble on gang activity, and regretting the lack of witness involvement, it would seem that the authorities are coming closer to the seat of the problem. Attacks on so-called “gun culture” are popular with the mainstream media. The remedies offered manage never to affect the criminal element, at the same time as they further restrict both the rights and the legitimate pastimes of the law-abiding.

January 1, 2003

Gun registration protests in Canada
            Associated Press today released a report concerning angry gun owners burning their gun registration certificates outside the Canadian Parliament.
            The Canadian gun registry has been heavily in the news over the last weeks, with the continuing release of information about its massive cost. Its alleged benefits are now being heavily questioned.
            The AP report has the Canadian Firearms Centre admitting that 400,000 gun owners have failed to obey the licensing laws. The actual number of previously law-abiding gun owners is of course a matter for conjecture, and the published government estimates of how many hunting and sporting guns may actually exist in Canada have been the subject of much questioning.
            No evidence yet links gun registration with any reduction in crime. Lawful gun owners continue facing restrictions which have not been shown to be beneficial. It is interesting to note that this event reported here is one of very few public showings of civil disobedience anywhere by lawful gun owners.