22BUK

This is an article printed in "Hertfordshire on Sunday" this week - our local paper. It was written by a regular contributor who's column is called "Mallett on Sunday". After reading it, I wrote to him asking when he was going to stand for parliament as he'd get my vote and, i suspect, a hell of a lot more! And kudos are due to the Editor for printing the article.

As this country and its successive governments have coveted most things American, it is strange that we are poles apart when it comes to totin’ guns.

‘The right to bear arms’ which the former colonialists have clung to from their birth is not acknowledged by the rulers of the British Isles.

We have reached the stage on this side of the Atlantic where even a humble cigarette lighter can be viewed with suspicion by the authorities.

The current debate about weapons generally and guns in particular was generated by a freak incident in Birmingham in which two teenage girls were killed in the crossfire between two rival gangs.

This inevitably led to calls for five-year minimum sentences for people caught carrying firearms without licence and much political wailing about war on the streets.

It was said that gun crime is the public’s greatest fear. Rubbish. People are far more concerned about the threat of their properties being burgled, their cars vandalised or stolen or being attacked and robbed on the streets by drug-crazed muggers than of a city centre shoot-out.

After the hullabaloo over Birmingham quietened down, it was announced, somewhat lamely, by the Home Office that a firearms amnesty would be held later in the year.

This was in the ludicrous hope that the country’s assorted Yardie-led hoodlums will walk meekly to their nearest police station and hand over their sub-machine guns.

Yet what this country needs in an ever more violent age is more rather than fewer guns.

I want to see a holstered pistol swinging from the hip of every copper on the street.

I want every householder of proven respectability to keep a gun in his home for the purpose of self-protection and exempted from prosecution should he choose to discharge it at anyone committing a forced entry.

I want to see a network of weapons training centres so that those same citizens can become proficient in their use.

I want to see young boys playing cowboys and Indians with toy six-shooters, not messing about with glorified dolls, albeit square-jawed and dressed in camouflage gear.

I want, in short, to give the good guys a realistic chance of fighting back against those who seek to loot and pillage from them.

Let’s see a British equivalent of the ‘Saturday night special’ – a tiny pistol, easily hidden, but with adequate stopping power if fired accurately. We could call ours the ‘Takeaway’.

This isn’t going to lead to shoot-outs in Sun Street, massacres on Market Square or riots in the Red Lion.

It is a message to the ne’er-do well bullyboys and to society’s wishy-washy liberal element that we’ve had enough.

However, I fear that the present Government, above all others, will continue to muddle along on the crime front – saying much but doing and achieving damn all.

Recent utterances from Messrs Irvine and Woolf (Lords Chancellor and Chief Justice respectively) indicate the way matters will progress, or rather, stagnate.

These were bland, complacent statements from men who are aware that they are more likely to be kidnapped by aliens than burgled or physically attacked.

Infuriating though their attitude is towards first-time offenders, perhaps I am being too hard on them. They are, after all, paid servants of a nation which is being governed by those devoting more energy to ensuring that gay households are given the same rights as heterosexual than protecting its citizens from the bullet, the bomb and the poison gas.

Britain? It’s in a sad, sad state.

Jye_0

Hmmm, the blind old bat down the road is bad enough driving her car never mind armed to the hilt, lol

normarker2

I like this man, he can have honorary membership of my "none of the above" party right now

Midmotorsteve

hum..can't agree to this, say i agree with the police on this one, well heavy sentances for those with illegal firearms. A good example on the news this week, 81 year old woman, paranoid about being burgled, raped etc so kept a couple of guns, knives etc in her house,..then earlier this week crack addict broke in, the confronted him with revolver, he took it off her shot and killed her.

more guns = more deaths

mj

Mr Mallet is talking out of his arris, is he serious?

I can see his point about wasting time/money on chutney ferrets raising kids etc, but to give every man & his dog a gun is just stupid. It would only work if the government gave gun licences to people earning 25K+ per year.

zoog

What twaddle! He seems to be saying, in effect, is that the solution to gang crime is for everyone to be armed and therefore the whole of society becomes one huge set of gangs - so we can all shoot each other to pieces!

The American experience with gun laws suggests otherwise, as does all the criminology statistics.

No wonder he's stuck on a small-time, small town provincial rag and never made it to Fleet Street.

Many Humbug Returns

Mallet on Sunday?

More like Muppet on Sunday.

Dr Hu

His first name isn't Timmy is it??

NotoriousREV

I used to be totally anti-gun,but now that we've had strict gun control laws for some time, it's obvious that they don't work. Only the law abiding are affected by laws.

Two teenage girls gunned down by an AK47. The governments response? Ban air pistols and replicas.

I want a gun, I want to be able to defend my property and my family from thieves, burglars and Safestyle UK.

Thue current gun laws have failed, it's time to try something completely different.

Pavlo

Might I just add than man traps are legal during the hours of darkness.....

22BUK

Zoog and MJ,

He did say in the article "I want every householder of proven respectability to keep a gun in his home for the purpose of self-protection"

zoog

I have - a Weiracht HW97K air rifle !

I'm not sure I m that respectable though..........

P1Fanatic

Well IMHO I think the Police should be armed. You go to the US and you see a whole new meaning of respect. When a pair of officers walk up to a pissed up bunch of youths with a Glock 17 and nightstick dangling from their belt, you dont hear the youths getting all mouthy like they do in this country or spitting and swearing. They just move on without prompting.

Mallett is right about the govt's attempts to reduce gun related crimes. The people who commit these crimes are above the law - they arent going to care if carrying a gun is illegal - they will do it anyway. The only people it affects are law abiding citizens.

I dont agree that citizens should be able to bear arms solely for the use of self defense. If you own one and use it to defend yourself from an armed burglar or similar then so be it but please lets not give every tom, dick and harry access to guns.

Simon.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Midmotorsteve

I agree there should be heavy sentances for illegal firearms, but what if firearms were legal, the honest people would have legal ones with certificates of ownership, etc

and all the bad boy yardies are not to fussed about such trivial things.

IMHO these firearm amnestys only affect the honest law abiding citizen, criminals with illegal weapons are never going to hand them in are they.

I am not overly in favour of people running round with guns but a gun is no more dangerous in the right habds as a car is in the wrong hands.

The Zohan

'Bout time this thick ar$e government realised that criminals who carry guns live outside of the law so an amnesty will have no effect. It will get good old uncle George to hand over the luger he has had in the loft since WW11, hardly a threat to mankind but a Yardie or such with an AK47 is unlikely to walk into Sunhill and say sorry i do not know what posssed me to buy this, please have it before i hurt someone.

As fir everyone having a gun then in theory yes, that way you are unlikel;y to rob a house if the occupant has a gun and is prepared to use it. In reality it is not going to work, the US is a prime example.

There is no easy answer, guns are here to stay, some criminals will always carry guns for whatever reason wew just have to deal with it - Gun amnesties what a waste of time and money. Education in schools may help with the next generation and the Armed response units with this one.

Clarebabes

I would never have a gun in my house.

Jerome

Something to bear in mind from the US is that, if you keep a gun in your home, you are 7 times more likely to die from being shot than if you don't have a gun at home.

Just because you have a gun, it doesn't mean you will be able to use it if/when the time comes. I have seen some fairly macho guys freeze when they have a real gun with real ammunition pointed at a range target. I doubt they would be able to shoot a human being, whatever the circumstances.

I also disagree with arming all of our Police force. We have some excellent officers that would be totally unsuited to carrying a firearm. Leave the firearms to specially trained officers.

Despite some high profile news reports about gun crime, the vast majority of the law abiding public have never even seen a gun, let alone become the victim of one. The majority of victims of gun crime are criminals. The people who routinely carry guns don't wander around Marks and Spencers shooting people. They carry guns as protection from other rival criminals, to attack other rival criminals, for status, and (as a last resort) to use against the Police.

One last thing. I was in LA in 1994. A report on the local radio said that the most common cause of infant deaths was, and I quote, "gun shot wounds". Still want to arm the general public?

Dizzy

I'm sorry but that is the most INSANE thing I've heard... I even read an article on the BBC news site in a similar vane...

If guns are more readily available it will become a DODDLE for crims to get hold of them. All of a sudden rather than someone threatening you with violance for car keys / wallet becomes a hold up. This isn't the wild west ffs. I dont want to die for a couple of quid or my car.

I am also against arming the police, they have specially trained units for specifically that job... I cannot belive ppl look to America and think, even for the slightest MOMENT they have got the right attitude towards gun crime (or crime in general).

Yes I think all this is just knee jurk reaction about a very sad story and I dont think tougher sentances are the answer either. More efficent policing with better powers to arrest imho is more likely to help.

However I do think that most of this is down to bizaar increase in mob culture in the "youth" (I'm 27 and I'm scared of walking the streets most nights) populous and a general deteriation of peoples value of what a life is worth. But I in no way think that me walking round with a gun will help.

Also how many times do the police actually PREVENT a crime rather than just mop up afterwards?

[end of inane rant ]

P1Fanatic

ROFLMAO
Do you have anything to back that statement up or did u just make it up?

Simon.

22BUK

I lived for a while in a US state that allowed you to shoot burglars. Both the wife and I had guns and had been trained how to use them. There were very very few burglaries surprisingly enough...

Jerome

>Do you have anything to back that statement up or did u just make it up?

Simon,

A quick google search uncovered the following web sites which all point to a huge increase in the risk of death when guns are kept in the home. Although the overall risk of being killed seems to be 3 times (rather than my 7 times), the third web site does say that a woman is 7 times more likely to be killed when a gun is kept in the home. I can't remember where I got my original figure, but I have seen this "7 times" figure numerous times.

http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/i...fs/gunhome.asp

http://www.psr.org/home.htm

http://goodsforguns.org/gunshome/

P1Fanatic

IIRC in Texas you can legally shoot anyone who comes on your land without consent. I.e dude breaks down, knocks on your door to borrow the phone and you blow him away. Goes back to some ancient law brought in to place in the cowboy era where cattle theft was a big problem.

NotoriousREV

OK, this statistic comes from the fact that there are several fatal shootings a year in peoples own homes.

Let's take a few people out of that equation: kids playing with Daddy's gun not realising it's loaded, battered wives finally snapping and shooting her redneck spouse, accidents involving machismo and alcohol, general stupidity while cleaning the gun.

That probably covers it...

King RA

Why do you constantly use America as an example of a country with lax gun laws. Canada has the same laws as the states but has FAR less shootings. Who is to say that if we liberalised gun laws we would end up like America and not Canada.

22BUK

Very good point RA.

In Europe, Switzerland has the most guns per head of population, followed by Denmark. After doing National Service in these countries, you get to keep your gun at home with you in case there is ever a call-up. You don't hear very often of gun crimes in these countries, do you?

fatherpierre

Having used guns on a regular basis in work over the past 12+ yrs I wouldn't fancy having one lying about my house or advocate any Tom, Dick or Harry having access to one.

I once saw a guy accidentally get his lower leg blown off simply because the 'trained' user wasn't paying attention properly.

Guns scare me even though I'm fairly profficient with combat rifles. Making them legal would increase the number of shootings by a significant margin.

Katana

Remember, Colonel Jack O'Neil's kid accidently shot himself with his gun. Because of this Earth's destruction is assured. This is why McGuyver hates guns..

skiddus_markus

God knows how anyone dies from gunshot wounds in the US.There most highly trained fugitives Hannibal,Face,BA and Murdoch fire off hundreds of rounds an episode and noone gets so much as a scratch.

Really disagree that we should have access to guns in the home.Any potential burglar/mugger etc is going to at least match their intended victim in firepower and have the motivation to use it.And the initiative.

22BUK

Figures from the US Dept.of Health & Human Services:
a. The number of physicians in the US is 700,000.
b. Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year is 120,000.
c. Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171.

Figures from the US Dept. of Justice:
a. The number of gun owners in the US is 80,000,000.
b. The number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) is 1,500.
c. The number of accidental deaths per gun owner is .0000188.